1 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:04,080 Hey everyone, welcome to our July BIBLEin365 Q&A with the one 2 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,360 and only Pastor James Cadiz. Thank you for being here again. 3 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,000 I just want to say thank you also for being by our side last 4 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:13,760 week. And I also want to thank all of 5 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,320 you who have sent us encouragement and prayer and 6 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,960 just been uplifting us. I cannot thank you enough. 7 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,760 Kate on our team shared within our document some of the words 8 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,280 of encouragement that you guys have sent. 9 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,440 And it really blesses both of us and our families. 10 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,760 So again, thank you for that. It just absolutely means the 11 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:36,600 world. I know, Khadis, you saw those 12 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:37,960 two as well. Oh yeah. 13 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,080 Yeah, beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. 14 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:41,840 Thank you. The kindness is overwhelming. 15 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,200 And I, I definitely would have, I wouldn't have wanted to be 16 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,400 anywhere else than where I was last week. 17 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,200 It was hard, but, you know, glad that we were able to see that 18 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,480 come into play and things come out into the light. 19 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,040 You know it needed to happen. Amen, Amen. 20 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:58,600 So we are going to dive right in. 21 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,680 We have a ton of questions. This Q&A. 22 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:03,800 We're going to start with the Scripture questions first. 23 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,280 We have hundreds of them, but we're going to start with just 24 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,960 the first five and then jump back to lifestyle and then jump 25 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:11,480 back to Scripture. So we're going to kind of go 26 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,960 back and forth. But Pastor James, if you want to 27 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,360 lead us in a prayer and we'll just, we'll just dive right in. 28 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,160 Yeah, let's do this. Father in heaven, we just thank 29 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:21,040 you, Lord, for this time that we have together. 30 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:25,480 I just pray God that we would be guided by your spirit, Lord, 31 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:30,080 that we would receive from you clearly and openly, and that, 32 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,120 Lord, you would bring clarity to this discussion that your name 33 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,000 would be lifted up. And we thank you, Father, for 34 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,240 these amazing people that have a lot of very important questions. 35 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,160 May they be answered thoroughly and effectively. 36 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,320 And Lord, may you just give us wisdom to be able to answer 37 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,560 these questions in a way that will just edify others and 38 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:50,520 encourage others. Because we know for everyone 39 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,440 question that's being asked, there are probably hundreds more 40 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:54,800 that are asking the same question. 41 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,200 So go before us now. Guide us in this time. 42 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,120 We love you for the fact that you are our God and that you are 43 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,600 with us and that you love us with an everlasting love. 44 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,000 So go before us now. We ask these things in Jesus 45 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,440 name, we pray. Amen. 46 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,760 Amen. All right. 47 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,640 Our first question is from Reuben. 48 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:16,280 He asked my brother who isn't a Christian has recently started 49 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,560 asking a lot of questions. We discussed different topics 50 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,120 and he sends AI generated responses. 51 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,960 One response was about the differences in the accounts of 52 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,000 the birth of Jesus found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. 53 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:32,000 Can you explain this for me? Thank you. 54 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:37,080 I think it's also helpful, Pastor James, to talk about how 55 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,320 again, you shouldn't be going. I understand the sentiment of 56 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,880 this, but also just to reiterate, like AI is artificial 57 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,000 intelligence. Keep going back to the Bible 58 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,040 for, for scripture and your questions and, and things like 59 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,160 that. So don't, don't solely rely on 60 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,360 AI generated responses for your, your walk with the Lord. 61 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,280 But I know you have a lot to talk about on this topic because 62 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,880 we've, I've, I've personally had conversations with you about 63 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:05,320 this before. Yeah. 64 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,000 Look, this is a very, very important subject and there are 65 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,240 many that have questions about this. 66 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:17,560 And I want to bring up a a very, very good, meaningful discussion 67 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,640 with respect to AI. OK. 68 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,800 The first thing that I want to say is that AI is a tool. 69 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,160 It's not an authority. It can summarize arguments, but 70 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:32,000 it can also, maybe even in some context, repeat skeptical 71 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,160 claims. But what it does is it also 72 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:42,040 omits context and and the problem is it will confidently 73 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,040 present disputed theories as established facts. 74 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,520 And you have to be very, very careful with that because the 75 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,960 real question is not what did AI say? 76 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:51,880 You got to be careful with that, right? 77 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,360 The question is, what does the biblical text actually say? 78 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:57,840 And that's what you have to look at. 79 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:02,080 Now with that said, Matthew and Luke do not give contradictory 80 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,600 accounts of Christ birth. As a matter of fact, they are 81 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,480 very complementary in nature. Now if you're talking about the 82 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:15,400 issue with respect to the genealogy, they are, there are 83 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,480 different genealogies there. One is the genealogy that comes 84 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,320 from Joseph himself, which within that genealogy is the 85 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:28,160 cursed line of Yehonia, where in Luke the genealogy is of course 86 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,000 different. That's the genealogy that comes 87 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,400 from Mary's line, and they both actually prove that Jesus Christ 88 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,240 is the Messiah, and we can get into that very, very deeply. 89 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:44,200 Now, with all that said, let me just simply say that Matthew has 90 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,920 a different emphasis. He emphasizes Jesus as Israel's 91 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,280 promised Messiah and I would even argue king. 92 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,440 He takes on the role of king later, but it this is this is 93 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,200 the emphasis of Matthew. Now his account focuses heavily 94 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,400 on Joseph, as I had mentioned before. 95 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,400 He focuses on the wise men. He focuses on Herod. 96 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,960 He even focuses on a very important detail that we 97 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,440 oftentimes don't talk about enough, and that is their flight 98 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:12,680 into Egypt. OK. 99 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,720 He also speaks about Old Testament prophecy. 100 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,040 He fulfills that. He speaks about the fulfillment 101 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,520 of Old Testament prophecy considerably because the 102 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,400 emphasis is to Jews. Now Luke, who's the only Gentile 103 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,120 author of the New Testament, emphasizes Jesus as the Savior 104 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,720 for all people. His account actually focuses 105 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:37,760 more on Mary, the shepherds, the manage the, the, the, the my 106 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,960 brain just farted the Manger. The, the, the scene of the 107 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,160 Manger. I'm sorry, the presentation in 108 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,600 the temple. By the way, the presentation in 109 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,960 the temple is a really interesting aspect of this. 110 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,800 And, and I, this is all fresh on my head because I'm teaching 111 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,120 through Luke right now. So it's interesting. 112 00:08:55,440 --> 00:09:00,360 And it also he deals with other eyewitness details that surround 113 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,640 his birth. Now, that's because Luke is a 114 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,960 historian and he's a physician, Joseph, of course, and the 115 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,840 account that you see concerning Joseph that is related to him, 116 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,520 it would be more emphatic based on what you see in Matthew's 117 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:18,200 account because of the Jewish connection. 118 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,640 So if you were to talk about producing a sequence or a 119 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,360 reasonable sequence, I would probably just off the top of my 120 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,600 head, I would say it would be Joseph and Mary travel from 121 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,280 Nazareth to Bethlehem. And then Jesus is born in 122 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,960 Bethlehem. Of course, we know the story of 123 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:41,320 him being placed in the Manger, which is basically a big, it's a 124 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,960 big massive stone cut in half that's sort of emptied out. 125 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,640 And it was a place where animals drank their water from. 126 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,080 So it would have been a really, that's a whole other interesting 127 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,200 thing. The shepherds go and visit Jesus 128 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,600 that night. Jesus is circumcised on the 8th 129 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:59,000 day. That would probably be the next 130 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,560 item that goes on. And then of course, Joseph and 131 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:09,600 Mary in that time present him at the temple after the required 132 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,200 period of purification. We read about this, by the way, 133 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:16,480 in Joseph in Luke and in Matthew's account. 134 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,120 So we see that happen, and then sometime later the wise men 135 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:21,520 arrived. Now this is something people 136 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:26,600 don't really pick up on, but Matthew doesn't say that they 137 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:30,080 visited Jesus in the stable on the night that he was born. 138 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,880 It actually says that they entered a house and saw the 139 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,200 young child. So the picture here is that 140 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,360 Jesus was probably two or three years old by the time the wise 141 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:43,560 men went to go visit him. He he wasn't in the Manger. 142 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,280 There was no Manger scene with the wise men. 143 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,520 And of course, after being warned by God, Joseph of course 144 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:54,160 takes Mary and Jesus into Egypt. And then after Herod dies, the 145 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:56,520 family returns and settles in Nazareth. 146 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,840 So if you want to talk about like the early accounts of 147 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:03,880 Jesus, those are the accounts that we have between Matthew and 148 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,840 between Luke. And then of course, we jump into 149 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:13,600 Luke's account, of course, of Jesus being in the temple when 150 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:19,280 he is at that 13 year old age. So it is interesting because 151 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:23,560 Luke chooses to, in my opinion, compress the account by saying 152 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:26,120 that after fulfilling all the requirements of the law, they 153 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,280 return to Nazareth. It was just a very quick like, 154 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:33,040 you know, blip, right? Matthew deals with it a slightly 155 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,960 different way and there are some aspects about this that he 156 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:40,160 chooses not to to include. So as I mentioned before, we 157 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,480 could get into the genealogies. I'll be very brief about that. 158 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:48,720 Matthew presents Jesus line through the line of David and 159 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,880 Solomon which brings you into a Yahonaya which is the cursed 160 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:57,720 line, which interestingly enough Jesus was not sired by Joseph, 161 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,360 he was sired by the Holy Spirit. So the cursed line wouldn't 162 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,040 touch Jesus physically. And then of course, we know 163 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,960 about Mary also coming from the Davidic line, also coming from 164 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,840 King David as was promised. And of course her line wasn't 165 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,160 tied to Yekhonaya wasn't tied to the cursed line. 166 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:23,360 So it is interesting to see that Jesus comes out of her womb. 167 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:28,240 And so it makes it so perfectly the the the picture is just 168 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:33,000 perfect. Now, if, if I don't know what AI 169 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:38,560 is being used here, but if these AI claims that are made or these 170 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:46,360 things in AI contradict one another, like I like ask AI, you 171 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,160 know, what are the statements being contradicted? 172 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,240 But to see the problem is, look, here's the thing that that that 173 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,400 happens. If, if you were to, if you were 174 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,960 to look at any interaction I've had with AI regarding biblical 175 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,440 issues, it would be completely different. 176 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,560 I would never go to an AI tool to tell me what the Bible says 177 00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,560 about something because it often times gets it wrong. 178 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,240 It doesn't understand all of these things. 179 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,040 And and you know, I the other thing too is don't be defensive 180 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,480 with your brother. You know, these questions may be 181 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,680 evidence that God is working on him, right? 182 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:21,400 You know, just open the Bible with him. 183 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:23,880 Read through both accounts carefully. 184 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,960 Make AI the the skeptic, the source of your skeptical 185 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:33,080 approach and, and, and let him see the Christianity doesn't 186 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,320 fear honest scrutiny like Christianity is open to this. 187 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,680 As a matter of fact, that's what Charlie was so good about doing. 188 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,000 I don't care. Let's open this up and let's 189 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,960 scrutinize this and let's let's stand and let's let the truth 190 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,160 stand on its own. OK, now AI can begin a 191 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:49,680 discussion. Great. 192 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,400 That may be a great tool that God is using to open the 193 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:57,560 discussion, but don't ever allow it to replace Scripture, OK, 194 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,440 Matter of fact, don't let it. Don't let it replace sound 195 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,040 reasoning or trustworthy biblical scholarship. 196 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,200 Like just avoid that all together. 197 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:06,440 So that's what I would say about that. 198 00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:08,520 It's a loaded question, but it's an important one. 199 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,360 No, totally. The next questions from Debbie. 200 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:18,280 Why did God take Elijah into heaven instead of having him die 201 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,760 like the rest of us? Is he mentioned in Revelation or 202 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,080 does he have a special purpose in heaven? 203 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,720 OK, great question. I do think that Elijah is 204 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,640 referred to in the Book of Revelation. 205 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,680 There's a lot to be said. A lot of the why questions that 206 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,520 we ask of God are really important questions to be 207 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,400 asking. You just have to prepare 208 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,920 yourself for the fact that sometimes you're not going to 209 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:47,440 really know the answer to to the wise, you know, because we're 210 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:53,040 not God and the look, the honest answer here, excuse me, is that 211 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,520 Scripture doesn't explicitly tell us why God chose to take 212 00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:00,960 Elijah into heaven without experiencing an ordinary death. 213 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,840 As a matter of fact, if you go to Second Kings Chapter 2, which 214 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,160 is the account of it, it said, it tells us that as they still 215 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,720 went on and they talked that behold, there appeared a chariot 216 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,920 of fire and and then the horses of fire come and they take him 217 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,560 up. But also that was tied into a 218 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,480 litmus test that was related to Elisha's future calling as well. 219 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:27,440 So we can make a, you know, sort of a, an educated guess with 220 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,760 respect to that. But the reality of it is we 221 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,040 don't know what the story is when it comes to that. 222 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,440 These were absolutely extraordinary acts of God, but 223 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,840 the Bible never says that Elijah was taken because God needed him 224 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,720 to perform some kind of ongoing assignment in heaven. 225 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:49,600 Now, Elijah does appear again in the transfiguration of Jesus 226 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,160 alongside Moses. Moses represented the Law. 227 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,160 Elijah clearly is representing the prophets in that 228 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,120 transfiguration, and together they testified that the Law and 229 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,160 the prophets pointed to Jesus. That's very, very clear. 230 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:06,960 Malachi also prophecies that Elijah would come before the day 231 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,200 of the Lord. Now John the Baptist partially 232 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:14,080 fulfills that prophecy because the Bible says that he came in 233 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,920 the Spirit and in the power of Elias, which is referring to 234 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,880 Elijah. But Jesus also spoke of Elijah 235 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:22,760 coming and restoring all things, so that's something that's yet 236 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,200 to come. So this is one reason why a lot 237 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:29,600 of Bible teachers believe that Elijah would be one of the two 238 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,600 witnesses in Revelation 11. I speak about that, by the way, 239 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,880 in the book that I wrote and that I'm writing as well, the 240 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:39,640 Part 2 of that where I talk about this. 241 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:43,200 But the thing with Revelation is it never names those two 242 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,440 witnesses, OK? Although Moses and Elijah are 243 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:51,160 probably strong candidates because these witnesses, they 244 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,600 perform miracles that resemble those that were associated with 245 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,360 what Moses and what Elijah did during the time of their lives. 246 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:00,640 Now, some people say that one of those witnesses is going to be 247 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,120 Enoch and Elijah because Enoch was taken up as well. 248 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,200 But the reality of it is we just don't know. 249 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:11,319 So that's what I would say. I would say that Elijah 250 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,400 undoubtedly has a future prophetic role during the 251 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:19,440 Tribulation period, but we can't say with certainty that This is 252 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:21,400 why God took him. Like that's the only thing that 253 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,720 like, I won't be. I couldn't guarantee you that 254 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:25,880 that's why it is. It'll be one of those questions. 255 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,840 We're just going to have to go to the Lord and say, Lord, why 256 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,520 did you do this? And then he'll blow our minds by 257 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,320 giving us an amazing answer one of these days. 258 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,360 That that's what I think. And that's not a cop out. 259 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,360 I'm just saying I can't answer when the Bible doesn't bring us 260 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,400 that that kind of clarity. And I think it's just really, 261 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,720 really important to to to, to point that out. 262 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,040 No, totally. Our next three questions are 263 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:50,080 more resource oriented one's from Melanie. 264 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,520 I'm trying to correlate the Old and New Testaments. 265 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,320 Is there a trusted reference book or guide dedicated to 266 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:57,640 showing how the two point to each other? 267 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,480 Examples. Some of the prophecies in the 268 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,240 Old Testament point to Jesus coming. 269 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,200 I would like to quickly reference back and forth to 270 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,760 these chapters and verses. Yeah. 271 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:09,800 OK. So that's a really good 272 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,800 question. And there are some, I think some 273 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,320 really good tools that do it. I personally would recommend, 274 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,680 especially if you're looking for a lot of the Old Testament, New 275 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,200 Testament parallels. And I'm serious, this isn't me 276 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,240 just trying to sell something. This is me trying to actually 277 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,840 help you guys grab this book that I wrote on the Book of 278 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,160 Revelation. And, and I work very. 279 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:31,760 Oh, thank you so much. I it's such a such a a powerful 280 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,280 tool that I hope that the body of Christ will be blessed with 281 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,800 because what I do is I go through the Old Testament and 282 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,160 show you where in the Old Testament these things come 283 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,520 from. Now with that said, if you're 284 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,760 looking for old traditional tools, although I'm not a huge 285 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,880 fan of cross referencing, the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge 286 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:58,960 is a good tool because it does contain 500,000 or so they claim 287 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,800 at least a half a million cross references. 288 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:09,920 But I personally am a bigger fan of the Bible Prophecy handbook 289 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:14,360 that's written by I believe it's I'm going to look this up for 290 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:16,920 you right now. I believe it's it's Ramsay that 291 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:20,400 writes it, but the Bible Prophecy Handbook is probably my 292 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,800 favorite tool that actually does that. 293 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:28,920 Also Thompson's book of Bible Maps and charts is really good, 294 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,520 and Haley's Bible handbook. That's like, yeah, Haley's is 10 295 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:35,920 out of 10. We have that as and we and on 296 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,320 our app we have like a whole resources section. 297 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,560 And so we have a bunch of those that you named on there 'cause I 298 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,000 know we've had that question before. 299 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,000 So that's all. And I think you have you and 300 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,480 Charlie got a Haley's Bible Handbook for me that got a 301 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,280 little I love you note written. In there, That's right, that's 302 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,440 right. We still have it too, the next 303 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,440 questions from Chelsea. I'd love to have more context 304 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,840 for all the Psalms and which ones David wrote during which 305 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:03,800 times. Is there a companion reading 306 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,440 guide you recommend for Psalms specifically? 307 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:09,880 Oh well, this is actually really easy. 308 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,400 I mentioned Haley's Bible Handbook, which actually covers 309 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,800 this quite well. It does really, really well. 310 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,760 Also, if you want the fast shortcut, and it's relatively 311 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,840 definitive, you can go through my introduction on the book of 312 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,840 Psalms because I identify who all the authors in the Psalms 313 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:28,440 are. As a matter of fact, it is so 314 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,800 interesting. One of the Psalms was actually 315 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:33,800 written by Moses. And so if you go to 316 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,720 jamescadiz.com and you actually pull my introduction to the book 317 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:42,440 of Psalms, you will, I think you'll be very, very happy with 318 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:47,080 what I bring there to you. And by the way, this is also the 319 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:51,040 place of Haley's Bible Handbook of Maps and Charts. 320 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,360 That is a phenomenal, phenomenal place where you can actually 321 00:20:55,360 --> 00:20:57,640 learn that as well. Yeah, the maps and charts book 322 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,320 is fascinating. I remember Charlie just thumbing 323 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,560 through that, even at night when he was just unwinding for the 324 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,760 day. And it's just, you learn a lot. 325 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,480 It's mind blowing. It's really, really solid. 326 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,440 Yeah. And, and I, I can, I, I just 327 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,200 also want to say this because it is unique to the Psalms that 328 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:14,920 some of these books probably won't tell you. 329 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,960 And I should probably just bring this out in the open because it 330 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,240 is really important because of the 150 Psalms, there are some 331 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,400 historical nuances that might not be completely caught. 332 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,680 One important qualification is that we can't confidently 333 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,680 connect every Psalm of David to a particular event in his life. 334 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,080 And I should probably say that because many of these books will 335 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,600 do that, right? There are 70 or so Psalms. 336 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,720 I think the number is 73 Psalms that actually identify David in 337 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:48,560 their headings, but only like a smaller number name specific 338 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,760 circumstances. So some of those circumstances 339 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:53,800 will be like when he runs from Absalom. 340 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,800 Psalm chapter 3 is is where we talk about this. 341 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,280 His sin concerning Bathsheba. That's the classic Psalm 51 342 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,160 passage. Or maybe the time that he was in 343 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,920 The Cave. Very classic Psalm 57 and even 344 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:09,560 Psalm 142. So some of these reading plans 345 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:15,240 that that are in these books will will assign every Davidic 346 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,480 Psalm like meaning every Psalm written by David to a specific 347 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,640 event and that's dead wrong. And I I just without any time I 348 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,600 give you a name of these reference books that you can 349 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:26,160 have. I just want you to be aware of 350 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,720 that nuance because it's very dangerous. 351 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,520 Matter of fact, if you ran it in AI, it would probably do the 352 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,040 same thing. So I just, I just wanted you to 353 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,400 know that. No, it's good. 354 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,480 The next question, I jumped up to lifestyle. 355 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,320 Let me just it's the final scriptures question before we go 356 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:48,000 back down to before we go back up to lifestyle. 357 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:54,440 Well, it's not jumping, but I remember here we go from Sarah. 358 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:59,160 I'd like to do a deep dive of the Holy Spirit to understand 359 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,600 his role more. Do you have any book or Bible 360 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,960 study recommendations? OK, so I could make this very, 361 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,640 very easy for you. I did a series on the Holy 362 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,640 Spirit that you could go to jamescadice.com and listen to. 363 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,080 One of them is very collegiate. In other words, it's just it's a 364 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:24,640 very definitive, very serious academic type of of a work if 365 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,240 you look at that. But I also think that there are 366 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,040 some really, really, really good books that have been written 367 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,200 that actually deal with this, believe it or not, the power and 368 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,840 the life of the Holy Spirit. Matter of fact, I don't think 369 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,720 that's the name of the book. I think the book is called 370 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,480 Living Water. It's Living Water, but by Pastor 371 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,040 Chuck Smith. In my opinion, probably one of 372 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,520 the best books written on the Holy Spirit that I have read 373 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,240 practical books that's very, very solid. 374 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,560 I really, really like it. Now, if you're looking for like 375 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,320 a deeper, a systematic study, you know, something that's like 376 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,320 a little bit more academic, I think Ryrie's book is really, 377 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,880 really good. I think it's called the Holy 378 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,080 Spirit so by Charles Ryrie. I think it's really, really, 379 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,040 really good. And I like them both. 380 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,080 I'm, I, I favor Chuck Smith's more probably because of where I 381 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:18,040 came from, you know, but if you were like looking for a study, I 382 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,600 would in, in this very specific order. 383 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,080 I'm going to try to do this like non methodically. 384 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,280 I would go through these passages, probably in this 385 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,360 order. I would go through John 14, John 386 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,600 15, John 16. Then I would go to the beginning 387 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,880 of Acts. So I would go through Acts 388 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,320 chapter 1 and chapter 2. Then I would go to probably 389 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,680 Romans, specifically Romans chapter 8. 390 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,520 Then I would go to First Corinthians 12 through 14. 391 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:48,600 People go to 1st Corinthians 12 to 14 first. 392 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,560 That would probably be the 4th order that I would go into. 393 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,640 Then I go into Galatians 5. And then I'd read all through 394 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,120 all of Ephesians and a part of Colossians and, and, and you'll 395 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:01,960 get a really, really good, solid understanding of the work and 396 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,440 the ministry and the power of the Holy Spirit. 397 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,360 And I think you'll just absolutely love it. 398 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,160 All right, jumping to lifestyle questions, our first one is from 399 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,200 Ellie. My name is Ellie, and I'm 15 400 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,040 years old. When it comes to submitting to 401 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,440 authority, like it talks about in the Bible and like how most 402 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,560 people are taught from an early age, how do you know when the 403 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,800 proper time to submit to authority is? 404 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,920 Like, for example, should you abstain from challenging 405 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,760 authority when you don't think what is happening is right? 406 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,080 Or should we always obey no matter the circumstance? 407 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,600 Is there a certain time to obey and a certain time to challenge 408 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:40,920 it? This reminds me of Charlie in 409 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:45,240 2020. It's it's so true. 410 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,440 I mean, if you really think about it, it also reminds me of 411 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,760 where I was in 2020. I mean, I was, I was very 412 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,760 specifically targeted by the governor of the state of 413 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,480 California during that time. And we were telling him, get 414 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,640 lost like this is we're going to do what we're going to do. 415 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,400 Look, the Bible definitely teaches submission to authority, 416 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,600 OK? But but it does not teach blind 417 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,040 obedience. I think that's kind of the big 418 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,160 thing that we have to understand, OK? 419 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,800 Every human authority, the Bible tells us, is under God's 420 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,000 authority. Now, that means the government 421 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:23,920 officials, parents, teachers, pastors, even employers, they 422 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,240 all have legitimate authority, but none of them has the right 423 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,000 to command us to disobey God. Romans 13 speaks of that very, 424 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,360 very clearly. It teaches us that governmental 425 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:38,160 authority, like I said earlier, is ordained by God. 426 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:43,640 But that's only subject to what God tells us to they represent 427 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,160 God and his purposes. Ephesians tells us the same 428 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:48,880 thing. You know, children obey your 429 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,080 parents in the Lord for this is right. 430 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,520 So if your if your parents are telling you to do something 431 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,720 evil, you have to be respectful to your parents and say I just 432 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,960 can't do it. The keyword here is in the Lord. 433 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,240 And that's really what matters. So our obedience to every human 434 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,160 authority remain subject to our obedience to God. 435 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,640 And you can't ignore that. Perhaps my favorite example of 436 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:12,880 this is in Acts chapter 5, and it tells us that Peter and the 437 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,640 other apostles answer to those that were accusing him, and they 438 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,680 say we ought to obey God rather than men. 439 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,200 Now they made a calculated decision, and I want this, I 440 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,040 want people to understand this. They made the decision to 441 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:30,240 disobey governmental authority, but they also recognize the fact 442 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,560 that they were going to take the punishment that came as a result 443 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:34,920 of it. It wasn't like they went in and, 444 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,400 and, you know, with a bunch of guns blazing and decided to just 445 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:39,800 fight the government in that way. 446 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,440 You know, the government ordered the apostles in that context to 447 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,000 stop preaching about Jesus. They respectfully refused 448 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,160 because they knew obeying that command would require them to 449 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,200 disobey the Lord. Matter of fact, what it would do 450 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,320 is it would require them to become something God never 451 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,200 intended for them to be. Daniel's a great example, you 452 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,880 know, he continued praying when the government prohibited. 453 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,480 If you remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 454 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:09,480 those are those their Babylonian names, Michelle, Azariah and 455 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:11,640 Hananiah was there was their actual names. 456 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,000 They refused to worship the King's image. 457 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:17,560 So another example of this are the Hebrew midwives. 458 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,160 They're real heroes in my opinion. 459 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,840 They refused Pharaoh's order to murder the children. 460 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,280 All of these people didn't rebel merely because they disliked the 461 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,040 rule. There's a lot of people that 462 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,360 rebelled because they disliked rules and that's just baloney. 463 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:34,800 They refused because obedience would have required them to sin. 464 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,880 I think that's probably the the the important thing. 465 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,160 So helpful way to think about this. 466 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,960 If an authority tells you to do something you dislike, submit. 467 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:47,800 I mean reality, OK, But if, if, if, if, if an authority makes a 468 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:53,200 decision that you believe is unwise, well, OK, you can 469 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,480 respectfully question it. You can appeal it, OK. 470 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,160 But disagreement alone doesn't justify your disobedience. 471 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,840 Now, if an authority tells you to sin or to participate in 472 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:08,160 wrongdoing or to deny Christ or violate some clear biblical 473 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:12,440 command or some command of God, or you got to obey God instead. 474 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,960 And so that's the idea. And now, by the way, if someone 475 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,920 places you or another person in danger or asks you to conceal 476 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,560 abuse or tells you to do something that's sexual or 477 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,840 criminal or seriously harmful, you cannot remain silent, right? 478 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,200 But you got to run away. Get away as far from the 479 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,600 situation as you possibly can, and you need to immediately tell 480 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,240 a trustworthy adult who can intervene. 481 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:40,480 I bring this up because I have been in situations where there 482 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,800 have been, forgive me for saying this, idiot pastors that have 483 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,200 told women that they have to submit to authority when their 484 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:52,400 husbands beat them, right? No, sorry, that's no, you leave 485 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:58,360 and get that pile of garbage in prison, OK? 486 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,720 It's you just don't do that, OK? And I think that that's really, 487 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,480 really, really important. By the way, I do I should say 488 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,320 this. This is another aspect. 489 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,040 And this is something that Charlie would probably have 490 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,800 wanted me to say, OK, Challenging authority is not 491 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,600 automatically rebellion. Like I need people to understand 492 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,840 this, OK? Daniel respectfully appealed the 493 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:24,240 King's command concerning food by proposing an alternative and 494 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,200 it and it worked right? Or Paul? 495 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,800 This is my favorite one. Paul used his legal rights, I 496 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,080 mean his legal rights as a Roman citizen, to actually fight 497 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,720 something that was actually being done unjustly. 498 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,920 So there are these rules that happen that you can actually do 499 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,080 this. And you know, we talked about 500 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,280 2020. This was one of the major issues 501 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,720 that we confronted in 2020. The question was never simply 502 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,040 whether the government possesses authority. 503 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:49,600 We know that they possess authority. 504 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:52,080 It does. The question was whether that 505 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,000 authority was unlimited. And guess what? 506 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,760 It wasn't unlimited. OK. 507 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,160 Government cannot take the place that belongs to God alone. 508 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,320 So these are the things that you have to think about and that's 509 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,200 why you should be mindful of this. 510 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,400 Ask these questions. Am I, you know, being required 511 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,520 to violate Scripture or do I merely dislike the decision? 512 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:13,480 Those are the types of questions you need to ask, right? 513 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,200 You know, one of the things you should ask is, do I understand 514 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,280 the situation completely? What does the law really say? 515 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:20,840 Not does what does somebody tell me? 516 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,560 The law says you have to go and you have to do it. 517 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:24,680 Have you raised the concern respectfully? 518 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,120 Have you used the system that God has given you to appeal it? 519 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:33,000 The bottom line is you do not submit when submission requires 520 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,280 even. You just don't. 521 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:37,480 Amen. Our next question, the 522 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,680 individual wanted to remain anonymous. 523 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,680 They asked why does God allow for infertility when we are told 524 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,480 to be fruitful and increase in number to fill the earth in 525 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,360 Genesis 9? Do you have advice about how to 526 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,520 not be mad at others who have newborns after miscarriage and 527 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,280 infertility struggles after trying for years? 528 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:03,400 Yeah, I have great advice. Adopt, you know, I mean, look, 529 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:10,600 the the command to be fruitful and multiply isn't it's not that 530 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,000 it's just fulfilled by having babies natural born. 531 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,200 If for whatever reason you are physically incapable of having 532 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,040 children, well, guess what, you get to adopt children and and 533 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,480 it's beautiful, right? And it's one of these things 534 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:30,440 where you, you, you who've been given by God this like amazing, 535 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,920 amazing opportunity. Now, I said that passionately 536 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,960 and quickly because all of my children are, are adopted and 537 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,520 I'm grateful to have them. And I think that I'm very much 538 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,920 following that rule. But I do want to say this 539 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,200 because I, you know, I got a little like, oh man, I got to 540 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,920 jump on this. Look, I am very sorry about how 541 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,440 you feel. I want to, I want to acknowledge 542 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:52,560 that because I think it's important. 543 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:57,640 Look, infertility, especially within the context of trying 544 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,600 again and again and again and and miscarriage, there's very 545 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,200 real grief in that context. As a matter of fact, the grief 546 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:11,320 that comes from that is often times worse than like if you if, 547 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,120 if you were to go through a, a typical traditional scenario. 548 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,600 So I don't want to start off by giving you a shallow explanation 549 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:23,400 for something, but the Scripture does give us some insight that 550 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,960 we can grow and that we can learn from, OK. 551 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,360 And so again, the idea here is that the Bible gives us 552 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:34,600 direction and the Bible tells us that we're to be people who take 553 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,760 advantage of every single moment that God has put in front of us 554 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,480 to follow the initial instruction. 555 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,360 And the initial instruction given to us with respect to 556 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:48,280 being created in God's likeness in his image also tells us to be 557 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,000 fruitful and to multiply and to replenish and to have dominion 558 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,720 over. These are things that the Bible 559 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,480 actually tells us. So if a door is closed in one 560 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,480 area, ask the Lord to give you wisdom to go through another 561 00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:02,600 door. Just because you're struggling 562 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:06,120 with infertility or just because you've had some miscarriages 563 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:10,120 doesn't mean that you cannot be a mother or a father. 564 00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:15,239 And I want you to to really hold fast to that because coming from 565 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:19,840 the perspective of a man who has three adopted children and hopes 566 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,639 to adopt a few more, there is nothing better. 567 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:27,440 There is nothing better than to raise children up as a mother or 568 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:29,800 a father. And it's something that we love. 569 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,360 And it's something that's very, very, very special. 570 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:40,560 Now, concerning anger toward people with newborns, I want you 571 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:42,560 to begin by being honest with God. 572 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,600 I think this is this is going to be probably the hardest thing 573 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:46,600 that I've said so far in this in this Q&A. 574 00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:50,719 OK? You can genuinely love someone 575 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,719 and still feel devastated by what their blessing reminds you 576 00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,840 of in terms of what you've lost. I want to be careful how I say 577 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:02,640 this. I don't think you're on an 578 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:07,880 unloving person by being hurt or saddened or even angry in some 579 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,680 context by watching the people closest to you have something 580 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,600 that you feel like you can't have. 581 00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:17,200 But that doesn't automatically make you hateful or spiritually 582 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,960 defective in any way. It means something very simple, 583 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,200 and that is your grieving. OK. 584 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:29,040 The Psalms show us that God permits his people to bring him 585 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:33,840 sorrow, to bring him confusion, even painful questions. 586 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:38,520 Right. Romans tells us this very, very 587 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,360 clear. Rejoice with those who rejoice 588 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:46,280 and weep with those that weep. So sometimes you may not. 589 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:49,280 I want to be careful how I say this. 590 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:53,000 Sometimes you may not yet have the emotional strength to attend 591 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,880 a baby shower, for example, or hold somebody's newborn, or even 592 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,120 participate in every pregnancy conversation. 593 00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:04,240 I remember the multiple times when my wife and I had her heart 594 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:08,280 set on a potential match for an adoption and it fell through. 595 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:10,600 And to see how devastated my wife was. 596 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:14,360 She had the license to behave the way that she behaved. 597 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,000 She wasn't vindictive, she wasn't hurtful, she wasn't 598 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,600 painful. She wasn't acting painful to 599 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,080 other people, but she was suffering. 600 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,440 So it's acceptable to establish temporary boundaries when you 601 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:27,400 heal. There's nothing wrong with that. 602 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,160 You can send a loving message or a gift without placing yourself 603 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,040 in any kind of situation that overwhelms you. 604 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,520 It's very different from resenting the the the the 605 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,560 parents of those babies or wishing that their child had not 606 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:42,520 been born. Very, very different thing. 607 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:45,600 Now I do want to say this, and I want to say this in the most 608 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,040 gentle way possible. When bitterness begins to grow, 609 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,960 you have to confess it to the Lord without pretending that 610 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,360 it's not there. You have to tell him the reality 611 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,160 of what's going on. You have to ask Him to help you 612 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:00,920 separate another person's blessing from your own loss. 613 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,160 OK? Their baby did not take away the 614 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,040 child that you wanted. You have to understand that, 615 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,600 right? God's goodness toward them is 616 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,480 not evidence of His cruelty towards you, and it never will 617 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,520 be. As a matter of fact, it may be 618 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:18,280 the very opposite. OK, it may be easy to say and 619 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,600 extremely difficult to feel. So you, you've got to allow this 620 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,400 healing to happen very gradually. 621 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,200 Now, here's the thing that I want to ask you to do, because 622 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,520 this is important and it will accelerate your healing in this 623 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,560 context. Don't carry this privately. 624 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:36,840 I don't think you will because you've asked us a question very 625 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,440 publicly. Yes, you've asked if you remain 626 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:44,040 anonymous, but it it's important grieve with your spouse rather 627 00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:48,080 than assuming you're, you know, like you, you, you're, you're 628 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,520 on, you're in this on your own, OK? 629 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,560 Don't assume that your spouse is processing it the same exact 630 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,240 way. If you do, it's going to head 631 00:37:57,720 --> 00:37:59,720 towards a rupture in your marriage. 632 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:04,720 Talk with the mature believer who will listen concerning these 633 00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:06,760 issues. It could be a pastor, It could 634 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,480 be you know somebody who will listen through these cliches. 635 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,920 It's also wise to seek appropriate evaluation from 636 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,680 medical professionals. Go to them, have them evaluate 637 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,680 what's going on with your body. It could be a simple adjustment 638 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:22,760 to be able to understand what's going on. 639 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:28,640 But with that said, if it is a closed door, understand God may 640 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,800 be opening an incredible door for adoption and there's 641 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,280 something very special about that opportunity. 642 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,680 So I wanted to go back and revisit that a little bit 643 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,280 because I'm very excited about adoption and I think that it's 644 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,680 an awesome tool that God can actually use. 645 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,960 The next two questions are individuals who are struggling 646 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,600 with chronic illness. So I'll just do them 647 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:56,400 back-to-back. Tammy asks. 648 00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,040 I have a chronic illness and sometimes I feel like I'm being 649 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,800 punished because in parts of the Old Testament, God punish people 650 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,320 by giving them plagues, etcetera. 651 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,240 I feel like I have a relationship with God and he has 652 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:09,760 been next to me in the hardest of times, so why do I feel like 653 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,200 an outcast? I want my relationship to grow 654 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,080 without feeling guilty about my illness. 655 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:19,280 And then JJ also adds with his question, how can one draw close 656 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,320 to God when illness is keeping one out of fellowship? 657 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,640 Reading God's word, singing hymns? 658 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,760 But I still am not feeling as close as I was in past times. 659 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:34,520 OK, so these are great questions and I can say this with great 660 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:36,680 confidence. I can, you know, talk about this 661 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:40,360 with great confidence because I deal with some physiological 662 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,280 issues that can be very debilitating. 663 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,960 And so I understand what that means and what that feels like. 664 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,880 And sometimes we just have to understand some things that the 665 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,240 rest of the world isn't going to understand if they're not 666 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:54,240 feeling it right, if they don't know it. 667 00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:57,720 So for both Tammy and is it, what is is it JJ? 668 00:39:57,720 --> 00:40:02,600 JJ, Erica. JJ So so Tammy and JJ Look, 669 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:07,160 chronic illness can create all kinds of things in your life. 670 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,240 It can create physical pain and isolation. 671 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,360 My favorite one to pick is exhaustion. 672 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,800 OK, It, it makes you tired a lot faster. 673 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,520 It definitely is at the center of spiritual discouragement. 674 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:25,040 I can tell you that right now. Those feelings are very real, 675 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:27,280 OK? They they are created by the 676 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,520 physiological condition that you were experiencing, especially 677 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,560 when that physiological condition is related to 678 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:34,440 neurology. So if you're dealing with a 679 00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:37,120 nerve disease of sorts, it makes it 10 times worse. 680 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,800 That happens to be the the fun one that I get to deal with. 681 00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:46,480 Those feelings are real, but they're not evidence that God 682 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:48,640 has rejected you or that God is punishing you. 683 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,640 In the Old Testament, God sometimes use disease as a very 684 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:55,280 specific judgment against a particular people or even 685 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,640 nations. However, you have to understand 686 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,480 the Bible never gives us permission to conclude that 687 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:04,520 every illness is God's punishment for personal sin. 688 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:06,920 As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that's not the case. 689 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:10,600 In John Chapter 9, if you remember, the disciples saw a 690 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,640 man who had been blind from birth and assumed that somebody 691 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:15,520 must have sinned and Jesus corrected them. 692 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:17,640 He he basically said no, that's not the case. 693 00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,720 Jesus said neither have this man sinned. 694 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:23,400 Notice what he says, nor his parents. 695 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,920 And then the reason why he says that person is blind is that the 696 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,400 works of God should be made manifest in him. 697 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:34,880 In other words, God saw that person worthy to be used by God 698 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,400 to glorify God, to allow his work to be done. 699 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:39,760 Job is another perfect example of this. 700 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,960 He suffered terribly, even though his suffering was not 701 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:44,440 punishment for some hidden wickedness. 702 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,960 As a matter of fact, the Bible says that Job was a godly man, 703 00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:50,080 perfect in the eyes of the Lord. Paul lived with a thorn in his 704 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:51,800 flesh. That's what he talked about in 705 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,120 the New Testament. God didn't remove the thorn in 706 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,400 the flesh, despite Paul asking him three very specific times. 707 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:00,480 Timothy experienced this recurring physical illness, if 708 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,920 you can remember, with his stomach that Paul actually 709 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:05,160 talked about. And Paul actually left the 710 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,480 person by the name of Trophemus behind because of the fact that 711 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,760 he was sick. So none of these circumstances 712 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:14,840 meant that God had abandoned them. 713 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:16,960 As a matter of fact, some of these were people that were very 714 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:21,680 anointed and very called by God. And so you have to go back to 715 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,400 the Romans principle and just understand the God's not 716 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:26,760 condemning you here and there's no condemnation, especially if 717 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,920 you're in Christ Jesus. So God can discipline his 718 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,760 children. Certainly he does that right. 719 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,680 But biblical discipline is very purposeful and the people who 720 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,920 are being disciplined as such are aware of the fact that it's 721 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,160 happening. He he doesn't leave us guessing 722 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,280 that every diagnosis or painful symptom or I have AI have an arm 723 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,640 ache here or I'm having a hard time walking today. 724 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:55,160 Those things are not, you know, some unidentified punishment by 725 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,200 God because of some unidentified offense. 726 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,200 It it it just doesn't work that way. 727 00:43:00,240 --> 00:43:06,880 OK, your let me just say this. Over time, physical separation 728 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,960 can begin to feel like separation from God as a result 729 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,800 of chronic illness. But your ability to attend or 730 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:18,280 sit in a building doesn't determine God's nearness to you. 731 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,560 There are people who are not chronically I'll who can't sit 732 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:24,840 in a church building nowadays because of other circumstances 733 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,600 that extenuate into their situation. 734 00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:31,760 I have lots of people that call me their pastor that have never 735 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:35,000 stepped foot in my sanctuary and for different reasons, unable to 736 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,000 do it. There's people, you'd be 737 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:41,760 surprised who they were, if you knew who call me their pastor, 738 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,240 but could never step foot into a church because of the situation 739 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:49,000 that they face. So that's just very, very 740 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,040 important to understand. And, and going back to JJ, look, 741 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:57,800 the fact that you don't feel as close to God as you once did 742 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,800 doesn't necessarily mean that like he's moved out of the way 743 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:04,960 or he's not with you, OK, Illness and exhaustion, 744 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,600 medication, just like sleep disruptions. 745 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,200 That's a big one, right? You know, pain, anxiety, all 746 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,760 kinds of depression, all the things that I just mentioned can 747 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,160 very much affect your concentration and your emotion 748 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:22,040 and your faith can never be measured solely by the intensity 749 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:23,840 of what we feel. If that was the case and we're 750 00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:25,960 all going to hell, it's really, really bad. 751 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:29,240 Sometimes drawing near to God means that you're continuing to 752 00:44:29,240 --> 00:44:33,240 trust what he has said when your emotions are completely unable 753 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:36,000 to confirm it. And that's like a that's, that's 754 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,800 a super, super important mindset to be able to have. 755 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,400 And that's something that I've learned to live by because the 756 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,920 feelings in my body, if I went by those feelings and me and God 757 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,400 are having we, we have a hate relationship, right? 758 00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:51,400 But that's not the case. And So what I would tell you is 759 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,520 to keep reading the Bible, you know, sing the songs that God 760 00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:58,080 has told you to do, but don't turn those things into like some 761 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:02,880 tests that you have to pass to make God feel close again. 762 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:04,440 That's just a lie from the enemy. 763 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,040 Speak honestly to God. The Psalms, we just talked about 764 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:10,000 this. The Psalms contain prayers from 765 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,240 people who very much felt forgotten. 766 00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:14,080 David is a great example of this. 767 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,400 You know, they, they felt very isolated and overwhelmed. 768 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:21,840 God included those prayers in the Bible so that we could 769 00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:24,960 recognize the fact that when you lament before God, it's not 770 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:27,120 unbelief. The whole book of Lamentations 771 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:30,840 was Jeremiah lamenting before God when he saw the destruction 772 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:32,800 of the southern Kingdom at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 773 00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:37,160 So it's, these are the things that are, are, are critical. 774 00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:39,440 Now, with that said, I think the church also has a massive 775 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:42,200 responsibility here. If, if, if illness keeps 776 00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:45,440 somebody from fellowship, I think the entire burden should 777 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,040 not rest on the sick person. I think that's really bad, 778 00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,200 right? So I think you should contact 779 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:51,880 your pastor. You should contact the elders of 780 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:54,600 the church or the ministry leaders and tell them plainly 781 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,960 that you need fellowship. Like I can't, I can't leave, but 782 00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:00,160 I need fellowship. We have ministries at Calvary 783 00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,560 Chapel, Signal Hill, where we actually go visit people in 784 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,120 convalescent homes that we do ministry like that. 785 00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,480 It's really, really important because I, I think that it's 786 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:10,520 critical. And James tells us, if any sick 787 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,360 among you, bring them to the elders so that they can pray. 788 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,520 Now I'm going to say this, and I'm going to say it with 789 00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:20,320 confidence because it's a part of my life, and I want you to 790 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:23,520 understand this with clarity because it's a part of my own 791 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,440 heart. Your illness, whatever it may 792 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:33,680 be, it may very well limit your body, but it doesn't reduce your 793 00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:40,040 value, OK? It doesn't cancel your place in 794 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,000 Christ. It doesn't make you an outcast 795 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:46,560 from God's family. There are things that people 796 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:50,560 around me do every single day that most human beings take for 797 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:55,560 granted that I can't do OK. You're not guilty because you're 798 00:46:55,560 --> 00:47:02,520 sick, and you're not forgotten because you can't presently 799 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:08,600 participate in in the type of things that you want to thank 800 00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:11,400 God for His love. That's unconditional. 801 00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:16,360 Rest in that love and don't place your value on the sickness 802 00:47:16,360 --> 00:47:19,360 that you carry. View it as an asset because 803 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:22,360 that's how I view it. I view the illnesses that I deal 804 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,080 with as an asset. They have taught me to become 805 00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:27,800 the man that I am and I wouldn't be able to minister to the 806 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,000 people that I minister to on a day-to-day basis if I did not 807 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,440 have those things to contend with. 808 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,880 So be encouraged, because God's with you and I don't want you to 809 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:42,600 ever forget that. Our next question is from Carol. 810 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:47,960 We talked about this in 2024, but it's it's helpful to just 811 00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:52,360 bring it up again. She asks, I want to know if you 812 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:56,280 get cremated instead of buried in a casket, will you still be 813 00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,120 raised up for heaven or is it a sin to be cremated? 814 00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,080 I don't think I will be able to afford the casket burial. 815 00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:06,680 I'm 62, on Social Security and have had breast cancer and other 816 00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:09,360 ailments. OK, well, the answer to that is 817 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:10,840 very simple. This doesn't have to be a long 818 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:12,240 one. I can tell you this 819 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,680 authoritatively based on the Bible. 820 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,400 You don't have an issue there, and I'll tell you why you don't 821 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:18,720 have an issue. And I think it's really, really 822 00:48:18,720 --> 00:48:22,680 important to understand this. What cremation does is cremation 823 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:27,280 literally accelerates what happens naturally when the body 824 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,920 is actually buried. So if you were to cremate 825 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:35,720 somebody today, you would look like somebody that got buried 50 826 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:36,760 years ago. That's that. 827 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:40,440 That's just the fact everything kind of falls apart the same 828 00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,560 way. So no, it just doesn't work that 829 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:44,920 way. And then thinking about how we 830 00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:49,680 know DNA and how it all works, I'm telling you right now, it 831 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,560 doesn't work that way. Cremation is not a sin. 832 00:48:52,720 --> 00:48:55,760 Your method of burial has literally no power to prevent 833 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,440 God from resurrecting you. Let me just read to you. 834 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:00,520 I just pulled it up because I think it's, it's, it's really 835 00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:04,240 important. It's, it's first Corinthians 836 00:49:04,240 --> 00:49:09,960 1552 and it says this, it says in a moment, in the twinkling of 837 00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,800 an eye, at the last trump, For the trumpet shall sound, and the 838 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:18,840 dead and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 839 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:22,200 shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on 840 00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:27,120 incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. 841 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,400 The Bible tells it makes it very clear we're going to be in a 842 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:34,240 corrupted state when the resurrection happens. 843 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:39,960 So you shouldn't feel guilty if you believe that you have to 844 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,520 assume the financial burden that you can't afford. 845 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,000 That's just crazy. I'm not calling you crazy, but 846 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:46,840 it's crazy if anybody would put that on you. 847 00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:53,480 If creation cremation is what your family can reasonably 848 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,920 provide or pay for, you know what? 849 00:49:56,240 --> 00:49:58,120 You can choose it and not worry about it. 850 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,120 It, it, it's all it does is accelerates what happens 851 00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:02,840 naturally. I think that's an important 852 00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:03,920 thing. So you're fine. 853 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,480 Our next question is from Sarah. I've started tithing, but I'm 854 00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:11,480 also trying to get out of debt. Scripture teaches both tithing 855 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,160 and the importance of being debt free, but I haven't been able to 856 00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:18,160 find clear guidance on which should be taken priority one. 857 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,760 Which should take priority? Excuse me, Even after looking 858 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:23,840 through Pastor Kadisa's resources biblically, should I 859 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:27,320 continue tithing while paying off debt or focus on becoming 860 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:31,360 debt free first? OK, well, first of all, let me 861 00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,120 just simply say this. I have an immense love for Dave 862 00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:36,000 Ramsey. I think Dave Ramsey is is 863 00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:39,080 incredible and I love Dave Ramsey because Dave Ramsey 864 00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:43,200 encourages people to get out of debt who don't have any 865 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,400 financial skill sets. That's why he does what he does. 866 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:51,360 But it is not an unbiblical principle to be in debt. 867 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:55,040 I want people to know that debt has a very useful tool and it 868 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:56,600 can carry a financial instrument. 869 00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,400 That's really important. So if the goal right off the bat 870 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:01,400 is just to get out of debt for the sake of getting out of debt 871 00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,080 because you think that that's the biblical thing to do, that 872 00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:06,280 actually isn't the case. Now, if I'm going into debt to 873 00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:09,720 go buy a boat that I can have recreational fun with, maybe 874 00:51:09,720 --> 00:51:12,280 that that you could, you might be able to argue that that might 875 00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:16,920 not be a biblical, but if you're going into debt in order to 876 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:20,840 produce an asset, I would argue that God gave us the instrument 877 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:23,120 of debt to be able to produce wealth for our families. 878 00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:25,760 That's a whole other story, something we could talk about 879 00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:27,440 later. I think it's an important thing 880 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:30,800 to be able to understand because I would not be able to produce 881 00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:34,600 wealth for my children or my children's children if I did not 882 00:51:34,600 --> 00:51:37,840 understand the instrument of the one of the financial instruments 883 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:40,600 that's tied directly to debt. And I think that that's really, 884 00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:44,400 really important. OK, now I need, I, I need 885 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:50,240 everybody to understand this. Tithing was specifically 886 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:52,480 required of Israel under the Mosaic Law. 887 00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:55,680 In the New Testament, believers are commanded to give regularly, 888 00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:58,280 that's for sure. But they're also told to give 889 00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:01,600 willingly and generously according to what God has 890 00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:04,400 provided. So the New Testament does not 891 00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,360 place Christians under a legal requirement that every believer 892 00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:10,960 has to give exactly 10%. By the way, let me speak very 893 00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:14,400 specifically to the 10% rule. Everybody says, well, I give 10% 894 00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:15,640 because that's what's in the Old Testament. 895 00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:19,000 Actually, if you followed Old Testament tithing law, you would 896 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,560 be obligated to give roughly 23% of your income. 897 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,640 OK, That is a fact. That is materially, that is a 898 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:27,960 fact. What you have to focus on is 899 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:31,080 what Second Corinthians tells us in Chapter 9, and it says every 900 00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,840 man according as he purposes in his heart. 901 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:38,760 So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth 902 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:40,680 A cheerful giver. That's what he says. 903 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:46,040 So the, the idea here, and this is really, really important, is 904 00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:51,960 that you understand that yes, God asks you to to give, he asks 905 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,000 you to tithe. You have to do it with the right 906 00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:56,840 heart. But I also think that the Bible 907 00:52:56,840 --> 00:53:00,640 says you should do it, but if you can't do it cheerfully, well 908 00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:03,840 then you shouldn't do it at all. Now, the idea here behind it is 909 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:05,680 that that doesn't mean, well, I'm not cheerful, so I'm not 910 00:53:05,680 --> 00:53:08,240 going to do it at all. It means you have to study the 911 00:53:08,240 --> 00:53:11,120 Scriptures and understand why it's such a powerful tool. 912 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:16,480 Because when you take of your resources and you give of that 913 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,760 to God, you will find a path for God's blessing. 914 00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:22,320 Now, I'm not saying this is not the health and wealth message. 915 00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:26,520 It says, you know, give me $10 and I'm going to give you 100 916 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:30,600 back. That's a lie, OK, God does in 917 00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:35,880 many cases promise us the blessing of wealth, but He makes 918 00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:39,000 that very conditional. And the condition is, will you 919 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:42,160 apply the principles of wealth? In other words, will you develop 920 00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:43,920 a skill set? Will you put your hands to the 921 00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:45,400 plow? Will you pursue that which is 922 00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:48,000 excellent? Will you actually learn how to 923 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,360 multiply the money that you have? 924 00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:52,720 Wealthy people, I'm going to make myself very clear here. 925 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:57,840 Wealthy people do not exchange their time for money. 926 00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:01,920 They actually exchange their money for time. 927 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:03,640 Why? Because time is your most 928 00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:06,840 valuable asset. And the whole idea behind giving 929 00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:11,160 God a portion of your money speaks of the fact that money is 930 00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:14,640 not the major priority that time, in essence is. 931 00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:18,560 And what you do when you give to God speaks even more vividly 932 00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:20,920 concerning where your real priorities are. 933 00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:24,880 So, so the idea here is really, really critical. 934 00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:28,960 Now I, I want to make this statement, OK, you have to go 935 00:54:28,960 --> 00:54:31,680 back to First Corinthians or Second Corinthians chapter 8, 936 00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,280 where he speaks of having a willing mind. 937 00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:39,360 This is this is what he says. He says that you, you, you 938 00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:42,840 cannot do something without approaching it with that kind of 939 00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:44,760 understanding. And that last statement is 940 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,720 critical. God doesn't require you to give 941 00:54:47,720 --> 00:54:52,800 money that you don't possess or to neglect, like some legitimate 942 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,480 obligation in order to maintain a particular percentage. 943 00:54:55,880 --> 00:55:00,400 That's a broken way of thinking. OK, Providing necessities for 944 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:05,720 your household and making required debt payments are real, 945 00:55:05,720 --> 00:55:07,640 and they are very biblical responsibilities. 946 00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:08,960 As a matter of fact, can I just tell you this? 947 00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:13,800 Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you're an evil person if 948 00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,640 you don't give on this specific day. 949 00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,520 Like let's say you you skip one Sunday and you don't tithe. 950 00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:23,600 The Bible doesn't call you evil, but it actually says you're 951 00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,840 worse than an infidel if you can't provide for your family. 952 00:55:27,720 --> 00:55:33,120 OK, so so the whole idea here is, is if you're going to tie, 953 00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:36,840 you know, a certain amount of money while falling back to pay 954 00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:39,600 creditors, it's actually bad stewardship. 955 00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:42,520 But then you have to ask yourself, what did I do to get 956 00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:44,240 myself in that position in the 1st place? 957 00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:47,200 And what do I have to do to fix that problem that I don't ever 958 00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:48,880 allow to see that happening again? 959 00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:52,200 So this is the order, I think this is the order. 960 00:55:52,440 --> 00:55:55,520 The order should be provide for the essential needs of your 961 00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:58,840 household, not for the keeping up with the Jones needs, right? 962 00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:03,440 The essential needs make every required debt payment on time. 963 00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:07,440 You should do it. OK, I would go back and offer 964 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:10,600 the caveat there by simply saying you don't engage in debt 965 00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:13,680 unless that debt is for an asset, plain and simple. 966 00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:16,240 But if you're in a situation where you're paying off debt for 967 00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:18,600 everything else, including ice cream and pizza and all that, 968 00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,120 you're good, you're good to get rid of that. 969 00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:23,760 It's important. OK, here's a third order. 970 00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:28,720 I would say continue giving something consistently and 971 00:56:28,720 --> 00:56:30,160 willingly to the work of the Lord. 972 00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:32,720 It doesn't have to be much. It can be something small. 973 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:36,400 So if while you're in this process of doing this back, deny 974 00:56:36,400 --> 00:56:39,400 yourself maybe a cup of Starbucks coffee and put it in a 975 00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:42,800 little treasury to give to the Lord and be happy about it 976 00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:47,240 because God will bless you because of your willingness to 977 00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:52,040 be able to make priority and direct as much remaining money 978 00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:56,200 as reasonably possible toward eliminating the bad debt. 979 00:56:56,520 --> 00:57:00,080 Now, if it's debt that's creating an asset, there's a 980 00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:02,880 whole other thing to say about that, which by the way, one of 981 00:57:02,880 --> 00:57:06,120 these days we will do some financial education and maybe 982 00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:07,760 we'll tie it to the Bible in 365. 983 00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:08,760 I got to talk to Erica about that. 984 00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:11,720 There's some really cool tools that we can do biblical teaching 985 00:57:11,720 --> 00:57:14,000 on all of this. The the other thing that I would 986 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:18,920 say is increase your giving as the debt is reduced and your 987 00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:21,760 financial position improves. I've learned this, by the way. 988 00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:26,600 I've had the benefit of being around very wealthy people and 989 00:57:26,600 --> 00:57:29,440 God has blessed me and my family considerably as well. 990 00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:32,880 The more God blesses you in this arena, the more you tend to give 991 00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:37,080 by default anyway. OK, so create a strict budget. 992 00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:40,080 It's it's, I think that's really important. 993 00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:44,840 Stop acquiring consumer debt. Don't be a consumer, be a 994 00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:47,120 producer. So if the kind of debt you want 995 00:57:47,120 --> 00:57:49,120 to take on is something that's going to help you produce, 996 00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:53,320 meaning it's tied to an asset, by all means go ahead and do it. 997 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:54,520 I'll give you an example of this. 998 00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:59,080 Don't go out and buy a truck and get in a $70,000 debt for that 999 00:57:59,080 --> 00:58:01,120 truck if you just want a shiny new truck. 1000 00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:05,400 But by all means, if you want to go into debt for a $70,000 truck 1001 00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:08,640 because that truck is going to be the primary tool used to 1002 00:58:08,640 --> 00:58:12,440 bring money into your family, do it all day, OK? 1003 00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:15,720 It produces tax benefits. There's all kinds of things that 1004 00:58:15,720 --> 00:58:17,200 can be done with the management of assets. 1005 00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:24,040 The bottom line is this, OK? You're called by God to walk in 1006 00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:27,160 faithfulness in a multiple set of areas. 1007 00:58:27,360 --> 00:58:30,240 You want to honor God through generosity and you want to honor 1008 00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:34,400 your commitments by repaying what you owe, and you want to 1009 00:58:34,400 --> 00:58:38,400 honor what God has given you in blessing your family that you 1010 00:58:38,400 --> 00:58:40,800 may walk righteously in providing for your children's 1011 00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:42,520 children. So it's all kind of a 1012 00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:46,680 complicated big web, but that's what you have to be aware of. 1013 00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:50,400 The bottom line is do whatever it takes to to get rid of that 1014 00:58:50,400 --> 00:58:53,040 debt, especially if it's bad debt, and then give with a 1015 00:58:53,040 --> 00:58:56,640 cheerful heart, but do not give at the expense of starving your 1016 00:58:56,640 --> 00:58:59,160 family or putting your family in a difficult position. 1017 00:58:59,160 --> 00:59:01,000 You would be called worse than an infidel for doing that. 1018 00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:05,480 I think that'd be really interesting to do kind of like a 1019 00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:11,080 side resource that maybe it's like a five day course or 1020 00:59:11,080 --> 00:59:17,040 something with regard to just finances through Bible and 365. 1021 00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:19,000 I think I think it would be really fascinating and also 1022 00:59:19,000 --> 00:59:23,520 super helpful even to our students with Turning Point so. 1023 00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:27,760 I have the, I have the program for you and there's some great, 1024 00:59:28,520 --> 00:59:31,680 the financial instruments that God has given us and provided 1025 00:59:31,680 --> 00:59:34,920 for us to be able to utilize. And I'm going to say something 1026 00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:38,040 that Charlie used to say. I don't ever say it nicely like 1027 00:59:38,040 --> 00:59:40,840 Charlie did, but I'll, I'll just outright and say it. 1028 00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:45,320 There's no reason why anybody in this country should walk in 1029 00:59:45,320 --> 00:59:48,560 poverty in this country. There is no reason. 1030 00:59:48,560 --> 00:59:53,000 There is never been an easier time in this country to produce 1031 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,960 wealth than right now. And I know a lot of people will 1032 00:59:55,960 --> 00:59:59,000 say, well, look at how high the house payments are and I get all 1033 00:59:59,000 --> 01:00:02,200 that. But the one thing that we have 1034 01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:05,800 the previous generations never had isn't something as simple as 1035 01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:10,160 this. I mean, it's amazing how quickly 1036 01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:13,120 kids can produce residual income for themselves. 1037 01:00:13,560 --> 01:00:16,840 With just a, a simple set of disciplines that they can be 1038 01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:20,200 taught that they can grow and they can walk in great 1039 01:00:20,200 --> 01:00:22,080 abundance. And I don't think it's 1040 01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:23,680 difficult. And it doesn't involve giving 1041 01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:25,880 money to the Lord so that you can get $1,000,000 back. 1042 01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:30,400 It involves developing a skill set and learning how to utilize 1043 01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:33,160 a skill set to build wealth. And I think that that's a very, 1044 01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:35,160 very important thing. And I think it's, it's critical. 1045 01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:38,200 And I really believe this because I think pastors 1046 01:00:38,200 --> 01:00:40,760 especially should be the best examples of this. 1047 01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:44,120 You know, I, I think, I think that pastors should be the ones 1048 01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:46,400 who are the biggest tithers in their church. 1049 01:00:46,400 --> 01:00:49,600 It's true. It's difficult. 1050 01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:51,400 I'm in competition with a few people. 1051 01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:53,960 I don't know who they are, but I know I'm in competition because 1052 01:00:53,960 --> 01:00:55,440 there's my church. I don't know who gives and who 1053 01:00:55,440 --> 01:00:58,800 doesn't give, But I got some big, I got some businessmen that 1054 01:00:58,800 --> 01:01:02,760 I, I need to beat out. But, but the bottom line is 1055 01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:06,760 there in this country, it's very, there's never been more 1056 01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:08,680 opportunity. The problem is we're being 1057 01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:13,400 programmed to not take advantage of those opportunities and, and, 1058 01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:15,640 and kids are coming out ripped off. 1059 01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:17,640 That's why I think one of the most brilliant works that 1060 01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:20,680 Charlie ever put together was talking about the college scam, 1061 01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:25,760 that book that he wrote. There's so much wisdom in that 1062 01:01:26,320 --> 01:01:30,760 because what happens in academia is it encourages people into 1063 01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:33,080 poverty instead of building wealth. 1064 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:36,880 And, and the habits that you learn in grade school and 1065 01:01:36,880 --> 01:01:39,920 elementary school, all those habits are habits that teach 1066 01:01:39,920 --> 01:01:42,840 people how to walk in poverty, not walk in wealth. 1067 01:01:43,040 --> 01:01:45,200 And I think that's a very important, it's why my children 1068 01:01:45,520 --> 01:01:49,040 will never go to public school. And if they have to go to 1069 01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:51,280 college, it will only be because they want to be a doctor or 1070 01:01:51,280 --> 01:01:52,720 something like that. And even then I'm try to keep 1071 01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:56,480 them away from college. And Charlie, even with with 1072 01:01:56,480 --> 01:02:01,200 Turning Point Education, Charlie was adamant about making sure 1073 01:02:01,200 --> 01:02:04,400 that we had a program which is flourishing now. 1074 01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:09,520 It's amazing called prep year, where if you are a senior in 1075 01:02:09,520 --> 01:02:14,160 high school, or let's say you're graduating senior in college and 1076 01:02:14,160 --> 01:02:17,560 you're thinking about going to grad school or something like 1077 01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:21,720 that, you just want to take a beat of a gap year because 1078 01:02:21,720 --> 01:02:24,440 Charlie would always say he had a 13 year gap year. 1079 01:02:24,800 --> 01:02:27,400 But it's one of those moments for these students to be able to 1080 01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:30,200 say, OK, before I rush into going into debt and going to 1081 01:02:30,200 --> 01:02:32,400 college, why am I going to college? 1082 01:02:32,760 --> 01:02:35,920 And instead, we're giving these students an opportunity to go to 1083 01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:41,640 prep year where they can be poured into from amazing leaders 1084 01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:44,480 and various industries that these students are interested in 1085 01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:47,800 and also to different mentorships, having people come 1086 01:02:47,800 --> 01:02:49,600 in and talk to them about finances. 1087 01:02:49,960 --> 01:02:52,040 You know, there's people that come in from the admin and speak 1088 01:02:52,040 --> 01:02:54,360 to them too, different theologians. 1089 01:02:54,760 --> 01:02:58,120 You know, we're, we're so blessed to have amazing 1090 01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:02,680 individuals to pour into these students so that they can have a 1091 01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:06,520 well-rounded understanding and viewpoint of after graduation. 1092 01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:10,920 I now know after these nine months what I do want to do and 1093 01:03:10,920 --> 01:03:14,080 what I do want to get into. And we also are able to provide 1094 01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:16,560 them different mentors and different job opportunities. 1095 01:03:16,560 --> 01:03:19,200 And selfishly, we do hire a lot of them because they're very, 1096 01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:23,440 very well, well competent and in their field. 1097 01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:27,120 But it's really, really important to to really take that 1098 01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:33,280 time and that that breath of what I'm doing. 1099 01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:36,440 Is it serving, is it serving the Kingdom and is it making an 1100 01:03:36,440 --> 01:03:39,880 impact or am I just following and going with the, the flow of 1101 01:03:39,880 --> 01:03:42,160 things? And it's, and I'm, I'm telling 1102 01:03:42,160 --> 01:03:44,200 you, those students, they're just, they're phenomenal. 1103 01:03:44,200 --> 01:03:45,400 You should actually come and speak to. 1104 01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:48,920 We have a prep year in Dallas and then we're opening up a 1105 01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:53,640 second one in Chicago this year. So I really think it would be 1106 01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:54,880 special for you to speak to them. 1107 01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:59,880 But if any of you out there have have high schoolers or college 1108 01:03:59,880 --> 01:04:02,520 age students who'd be interested in and being involved with prep 1109 01:04:02,520 --> 01:04:05,320 year, it's really, it's really a special program that we have 1110 01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:07,840 that Charlie was really inspired by. 1111 01:04:08,560 --> 01:04:12,880 And it's, and it's so valuable it, I mean, it's so valuable if 1112 01:04:12,880 --> 01:04:16,160 you're, if you're rushing to, to, to find something 1113 01:04:16,160 --> 01:04:20,040 immediately. Like I said, my website has the 1114 01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:22,320 biblical side of it. As a matter of fact, we even 1115 01:04:22,320 --> 01:04:24,720 have a thing on our website that teaches you how to build skill 1116 01:04:24,720 --> 01:04:28,400 sets in using the, the current financial instruments like the 1117 01:04:28,400 --> 01:04:30,200 stock market, for example, is one of the best financial 1118 01:04:30,200 --> 01:04:32,320 instruments in the world to be able to, to build wealth. 1119 01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:36,520 We we have that there. And I know for a fact what 1120 01:04:36,520 --> 01:04:38,480 Turning Point is doing is extensive. 1121 01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:43,400 It's very, very, very extensive. And, and I think that there's so 1122 01:04:43,400 --> 01:04:48,160 much benefit that comes from it, but just go, if you're looking 1123 01:04:48,160 --> 01:04:51,240 for it today, right now, you can search it on my website. 1124 01:04:51,240 --> 01:04:54,680 You'll see it right there. But it's important to prep for 1125 01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:56,400 this. I love that prep here. 1126 01:04:56,400 --> 01:04:58,680 I just I just I completely forgot about this such. 1127 01:04:58,680 --> 01:05:00,920 A, your kids can go there instead of college and then 1128 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:04,880 they'll be all set. But no, it's a great question. 1129 01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:06,680 Our next question is from Stephanie. 1130 01:05:07,480 --> 01:05:12,040 My husband and I have a son with intellectual disability due to a 1131 01:05:12,040 --> 01:05:15,040 genetic disorder. As Christ followers, we do our 1132 01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:19,000 best to raise him to know Jesus, his love for us, and our need 1133 01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:21,560 for a Savior. I've combed through scriptures 1134 01:05:21,560 --> 01:05:24,640 looking for assurance of salvation for our son, King 1135 01:05:24,640 --> 01:05:28,240 David and Mephibosheth. Yeah, Mephibosheth. 1136 01:05:28,880 --> 01:05:30,960 Yeah. Wow, look at that. 1137 01:05:30,960 --> 01:05:35,920 OK, the Man Born Blind in the book of John and many other 1138 01:05:35,920 --> 01:05:37,640 similar passages tug at my heart. 1139 01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:40,960 I understand context and to always pray for what God has to 1140 01:05:40,960 --> 01:05:43,880 teach me about Himself. Do you have any words of 1141 01:05:43,880 --> 01:05:46,840 encouragement or wisdom? Yeah. 1142 01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:51,240 So let me just simply say this. First and foremost, your son's 1143 01:05:51,240 --> 01:05:55,320 intellectual disability or capacity doesn't make him less 1144 01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:58,720 valuable to God, and we all know that, right? 1145 01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:00,800 He's not less fully human. As a matter of fact, quite 1146 01:06:00,800 --> 01:06:05,320 frankly, he may have, he may be in better touch with humanity 1147 01:06:05,480 --> 01:06:07,640 than most. And I think that that's an 1148 01:06:07,640 --> 01:06:10,600 important stipulation to carry forth here. 1149 01:06:11,800 --> 01:06:15,240 He bears the image of God. He was created in God's likeness 1150 01:06:15,240 --> 01:06:18,960 in him and in his image. And his life is not an accident 1151 01:06:18,960 --> 01:06:20,760 or a punishment upon your family. 1152 01:06:20,760 --> 01:06:23,800 I think that's a really critical point to bring out and it's good 1153 01:06:23,800 --> 01:06:25,720 to bring out for the benefit of everybody to hear. 1154 01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:29,160 Now, the Bible doesn't give us one passage that formally 1155 01:06:29,160 --> 01:06:31,680 explains the salvation of every person who lacks the 1156 01:06:31,680 --> 01:06:34,520 intellectual capacity to be able to understand or consciously 1157 01:06:34,520 --> 01:06:37,800 respond to the gospel. However, the Bible gives us 1158 01:06:37,800 --> 01:06:40,480 strong reasons to trust the mercy and justice of God 1159 01:06:40,480 --> 01:06:45,200 concerning those who can't comprehend the moral 1160 01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:49,720 responsibility or saving faith in like the, the, the, the 1161 01:06:49,720 --> 01:06:51,920 ordinary way. I hate to say the ordinary way, 1162 01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:57,400 maybe, maybe the mainstream way. OK, Deuteronomy speaks of this. 1163 01:06:58,640 --> 01:07:03,800 It talks about, I believe it's Deuteronomy one verse 39. 1164 01:07:04,120 --> 01:07:08,440 It says, moreover, your little ones, which you said should be a 1165 01:07:08,520 --> 01:07:12,600 prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge 1166 01:07:12,600 --> 01:07:16,240 between good and evil, They shall go and hit her, and unto 1167 01:07:16,240 --> 01:07:18,720 them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 1168 01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:23,160 So God recognized this meaningful difference between 1169 01:07:23,160 --> 01:07:26,360 those who knowingly rebelled and those who did not possess the 1170 01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:29,440 capacity to understand. And by the way, Deuteronomy is a 1171 01:07:29,440 --> 01:07:33,240 critical context here because Deuteronomy is in essence Moses 1172 01:07:33,640 --> 01:07:37,360 before he's about to die, telling the children of Israel 1173 01:07:37,360 --> 01:07:40,800 the last important principles that God, he felt like God 1174 01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:43,840 wanted them to know. So we learned from this passage 1175 01:07:43,840 --> 01:07:46,800 alone that God never judges irrationally or unjustly. 1176 01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:52,680 He perfectly understands what the abilities of our children 1177 01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:54,720 are, the abilities of your son for sure. 1178 01:07:55,160 --> 01:07:58,000 His limitations, the condition of his heart, his level of 1179 01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:01,120 comprehension, all of those things God sees and He sees 1180 01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:05,560 perfectly, and we can trust Him to judge according to truth 1181 01:08:05,560 --> 01:08:07,640 rather than according to the expectations. 1182 01:08:07,640 --> 01:08:10,600 Your son is very much incapable of meeting. 1183 01:08:10,760 --> 01:08:11,960 And that's really, really important. 1184 01:08:12,120 --> 01:08:15,840 By the way, my other favorite passage, this one is awesome, is 1185 01:08:15,840 --> 01:08:18,720 David's infant son. When he died, if you remember, 1186 01:08:18,720 --> 01:08:24,479 David was acting erratically. I mean, he was fasting and doing 1187 01:08:24,479 --> 01:08:27,120 some crazy things when his son was sick. 1188 01:08:27,120 --> 01:08:30,680 But when his son died, he all of a sudden cleaned up, started 1189 01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:32,319 eating and like everything was normal. 1190 01:08:32,600 --> 01:08:35,800 His people went to him and were just completely freaked out. 1191 01:08:35,800 --> 01:08:38,800 Like, why are you acting like everything is OK, David? 1192 01:08:39,120 --> 01:08:43,960 And David says now is he dead? He's dead right now. 1193 01:08:44,120 --> 01:08:47,479 Wherefore why should I fast? That's a question he asked. 1194 01:08:47,640 --> 01:08:49,800 Now that he's dead, why in the world should I fast? 1195 01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:52,920 Can I bring him back again? No, I can't. 1196 01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:54,359 That's what David's telling his people. 1197 01:08:54,359 --> 01:08:57,279 But then he says this, and this is so powerful. 1198 01:08:57,439 --> 01:09:04,040 He says I shall go to him, I shall go to him, but he shall 1199 01:09:04,040 --> 01:09:06,319 not return to me. In other words, I'm going to see 1200 01:09:06,319 --> 01:09:11,319 him in heaven. Now, that passage doesn't 1201 01:09:11,319 --> 01:09:15,520 determine this massive doctrine about what happens here, but 1202 01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:18,960 it's again, it's another contributory passage, right? 1203 01:09:18,960 --> 01:09:21,640 Even Jesus talking about suffer the little children to come to 1204 01:09:21,640 --> 01:09:24,960 me. I think that there is a mindset 1205 01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:32,560 where God understands and knows and recognizes each situation 1206 01:09:32,760 --> 01:09:35,680 very specifically. Now, the accounts of the shibble 1207 01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:40,319 chef, for example, and the man that was born blind, they reveal 1208 01:09:40,319 --> 01:09:42,160 God's compassion. OK. 1209 01:09:42,720 --> 01:09:47,640 And by the way, it's appropriate to carry the assumption that 1210 01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:52,600 disability represents something that is, that is not associated 1211 01:09:52,840 --> 01:09:55,240 with personal judgment. As a matter of fact, quite 1212 01:09:55,240 --> 01:09:59,400 frankly, I would actually say that when people struggle with 1213 01:09:59,400 --> 01:10:02,880 disability, it's a matter of God finding them worthy for 1214 01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:06,000 something very special. And, and we have evidence of 1215 01:10:06,000 --> 01:10:09,120 that because when Jesus tells his disciples, this man hasn't 1216 01:10:09,120 --> 01:10:11,920 sinned nor his parents, but he was set aside for God to do 1217 01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:15,440 something amazing through him, God found him worthy for 1218 01:10:15,440 --> 01:10:21,720 something even more special. So with all that said, I say God 1219 01:10:21,720 --> 01:10:24,520 completely understands. The Bible says that God 1220 01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:29,000 completely understands your son. He loves it more perfectly than 1221 01:10:29,000 --> 01:10:31,480 you can ever love him. That's an important stipulation 1222 01:10:31,480 --> 01:10:36,120 to carry forth. And he will never, he will never 1223 01:10:36,200 --> 01:10:39,280 judge your son for some intellectual capacity or 1224 01:10:39,280 --> 01:10:41,840 incapacity that he did not give him. 1225 01:10:41,840 --> 01:10:45,160 You understand what I'm saying? God is not going to say I expect 1226 01:10:45,160 --> 01:10:47,760 this of you and then judge you for doing it when you didn't 1227 01:10:47,760 --> 01:10:51,560 have the capability of doing it. So keep telling your son about 1228 01:10:51,560 --> 01:10:55,680 Christ, OK? But ignore the fear that is 1229 01:10:55,680 --> 01:10:58,640 salvation depends upon your ability to obtain the correct 1230 01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:02,000 response from Him. God knows He sees it. 1231 01:11:02,320 --> 01:11:06,600 You are responsible to love, to teach, to pray, to be faithful 1232 01:11:06,600 --> 01:11:08,840 to Him. You can entrust everything 1233 01:11:08,840 --> 01:11:11,960 beyond that to a perfectly just and merciful Savior. 1234 01:11:11,960 --> 01:11:13,680 And by the way, I just want you to know this. 1235 01:11:14,240 --> 01:11:17,800 I'm saying that with conviction because one of the most precious 1236 01:11:17,800 --> 01:11:20,400 human beings in my life is my little brother who has Down 1237 01:11:20,400 --> 01:11:23,760 syndrome, who deals with the same type of incapacities to 1238 01:11:23,760 --> 01:11:28,720 understand the deeper issues that the average person who has 1239 01:11:28,720 --> 01:11:31,680 a slightly different situation would understand. 1240 01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:34,080 God is faithful, He knows what he's doing. 1241 01:11:34,280 --> 01:11:37,400 And my little brother is one of the godliest little men you'll 1242 01:11:37,400 --> 01:11:41,840 ever meet, but he can't explain substitutionary atonement. 1243 01:11:41,960 --> 01:11:45,120 He doesn't understand those principles, but he knows how to 1244 01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:47,160 sing a song where he says I love Jesus. 1245 01:11:48,560 --> 01:11:51,320 Everybody is different and God sees him as such, and he is the 1246 01:11:51,320 --> 01:11:55,520 ultimate judge. And I believe that your son's 1247 01:11:55,520 --> 01:11:58,640 condition is in a healthy, perfect, safe spot. 1248 01:11:58,640 --> 01:12:01,880 And we will one of these days when we all go to be with him. 1249 01:12:02,040 --> 01:12:06,920 We'll see him up there. Next, questions from Don and 1250 01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:09,720 Karen. The Bible tells us to leave our 1251 01:12:09,720 --> 01:12:12,320 inheritance to our children and our children's children. 1252 01:12:12,640 --> 01:12:15,880 Should we leave the inheritance if those children are atheist 1253 01:12:15,880 --> 01:12:18,800 and live lifestyles that are an abomination to the Lord? 1254 01:12:21,160 --> 01:12:24,720 So it's a it's a really, really good question and and I can 1255 01:12:24,720 --> 01:12:26,720 understand that. The one thing that I would 1256 01:12:26,720 --> 01:12:30,080 simply say with respect to that is that it's something that you 1257 01:12:30,080 --> 01:12:32,800 should pray to the Lord concerning, right? 1258 01:12:33,600 --> 01:12:37,480 I couldn't tell you yes or no. I can tell you that it is 1259 01:12:37,480 --> 01:12:39,800 biblical. The Bible says a good man 1260 01:12:40,040 --> 01:12:43,160 leaveth an inheritance to his children's children and the 1261 01:12:43,160 --> 01:12:45,840 wealth of the Sinner is laid up for the just. 1262 01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:48,160 That's actually what it says in, in, in Proverbs. 1263 01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:51,120 So that's a principle of wisdom. I think that's an important 1264 01:12:51,120 --> 01:12:53,120 thing to say. It's not an absolute command 1265 01:12:53,440 --> 01:12:55,760 requiring parents to transfer their possessions directly to 1266 01:12:55,760 --> 01:12:58,000 their children. You know, regardless of 1267 01:12:58,200 --> 01:13:02,640 circumstance you have to doing this. 1268 01:13:04,320 --> 01:13:06,800 Let me just say this, the Bible commends planning. 1269 01:13:06,880 --> 01:13:08,480 That's that's a good thing to say it. 1270 01:13:08,480 --> 01:13:11,920 It commends being a provider. It commends building something 1271 01:13:11,920 --> 01:13:13,560 that benefits future generations. 1272 01:13:13,920 --> 01:13:17,760 It doesn't require us to finance rebellion by any stretch of the 1273 01:13:17,760 --> 01:13:20,280 imagination or place resources into the hands of somebody who 1274 01:13:20,280 --> 01:13:22,600 will predictably use them destructively. 1275 01:13:23,480 --> 01:13:29,000 OK, an inheritance in and of itself is not necessarily an 1276 01:13:29,000 --> 01:13:32,080 endorsement of everything that an adult child believes or does. 1277 01:13:32,720 --> 01:13:36,200 So if your child is an atheist but is financially responsible, 1278 01:13:36,320 --> 01:13:41,240 leaving an inheritance may still be an expression of a God-given 1279 01:13:41,240 --> 01:13:43,760 parental love that could preserve a very important 1280 01:13:43,760 --> 01:13:46,080 relationship. And you should not use money as 1281 01:13:46,080 --> 01:13:48,320 a weapon to force a profession of faith because you could 1282 01:13:48,320 --> 01:13:51,960 actually hurt that child. You know, a, a, a person can't 1283 01:13:51,960 --> 01:13:54,320 be purchased into the Kingdom of God. 1284 01:13:54,320 --> 01:13:57,800 However, if you have a strong reason to believe that the 1285 01:13:57,800 --> 01:14:01,240 inheritance will fund, you know, like drug addiction or criminal 1286 01:14:01,240 --> 01:14:05,000 activity or something like sexual exploitation or something 1287 01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:10,120 that will just like damage that kid, My goodness, you're not 1288 01:14:10,120 --> 01:14:12,200 biblically required to hand that off to that person. 1289 01:14:12,880 --> 01:14:14,640 And I think that that's really, really important. 1290 01:14:14,640 --> 01:14:20,200 OK, so let me let me also say this, and this is from a very 1291 01:14:20,200 --> 01:14:26,320 personal place, you're foolish. If you own a home and you don't 1292 01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:30,560 have a trust, OK, you should do some estate planning. 1293 01:14:30,600 --> 01:14:32,360 Estate planning is super critical. 1294 01:14:33,040 --> 01:14:35,720 With that said, let me just simply say this. 1295 01:14:36,200 --> 01:14:39,920 Even within the trust, you can create boundaries for how the 1296 01:14:39,920 --> 01:14:41,680 inheritance is left for your children. 1297 01:14:42,160 --> 01:14:46,600 Like for example, if something happens to you or to your 1298 01:14:46,600 --> 01:14:51,160 spouse, where your children are left with simply what is in the 1299 01:14:51,160 --> 01:14:54,440 trust or what is in your estate, You can create rules or 1300 01:14:54,440 --> 01:14:57,600 conditions by which the the money can be released to them. 1301 01:14:58,280 --> 01:15:01,440 So there's things that you should do to plan those things 1302 01:15:01,440 --> 01:15:03,800 out. By the way, the statement about 1303 01:15:03,800 --> 01:15:06,080 being a fool if you don't have a trust, I'll give you an example 1304 01:15:06,080 --> 01:15:10,320 of why that's the case. John Wayne, when he died, just 1305 01:15:10,320 --> 01:15:14,240 finally, I want to say seven years ago, settled his, they 1306 01:15:14,240 --> 01:15:16,040 finally settled his estate seven years ago. 1307 01:15:16,360 --> 01:15:19,520 It was wrapped up in probate for that long and his descendants 1308 01:15:20,040 --> 01:15:23,240 got almost nothing. That's why there's some wisdom 1309 01:15:23,240 --> 01:15:27,560 in being able to recognize that to set up the set up the estate, 1310 01:15:28,520 --> 01:15:30,480 protect it. You have an obligation to be 1311 01:15:30,480 --> 01:15:33,560 able to do that. Now, with all that said, I don't 1312 01:15:33,560 --> 01:15:36,920 think that you simply, I don't think your children are 1313 01:15:36,920 --> 01:15:40,360 disqualified if they don't have a relationship with God, if 1314 01:15:40,360 --> 01:15:44,280 they're responsible, if they will carry the family 1315 01:15:44,280 --> 01:15:46,400 enterprise. Listen, you want Christ to be at 1316 01:15:46,400 --> 01:15:48,080 the the core of that, absolutely. 1317 01:15:48,480 --> 01:15:51,280 But if they can demonstrate financial responsibility and 1318 01:15:51,280 --> 01:15:54,920 they're not driving themselves into a place of destruction, you 1319 01:15:54,920 --> 01:15:58,880 know, I don't think that you have a reason to refrain from 1320 01:15:58,880 --> 01:16:01,040 them. But I think that's something in 1321 01:16:01,040 --> 01:16:02,640 between you and the Lord and you're going to have to pray 1322 01:16:02,640 --> 01:16:05,080 about. So the one thing that I will 1323 01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:07,400 tell you is don't make the decision out of rage. 1324 01:16:07,720 --> 01:16:09,160 Don't make it out of embarrassment. 1325 01:16:09,160 --> 01:16:11,320 Don't make it even as a form of retaliation. 1326 01:16:11,320 --> 01:16:12,840 I know some parents that do stuff like that. 1327 01:16:13,080 --> 01:16:17,280 Don't do that. Pray, examine each child's 1328 01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:20,320 actual circumstance. You need to do that, right? 1329 01:16:20,320 --> 01:16:25,000 And then seek counsel from a, from a pastor who is faithful, a 1330 01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:27,440 biblically faithful pastor. Don't speak to a pastor who's 1331 01:16:27,440 --> 01:16:29,040 broke. I'm sorry. 1332 01:16:29,560 --> 01:16:31,320 OK? Talk to a pastor that 1333 01:16:31,320 --> 01:16:35,120 understands what this looks like, and then speak to somebody 1334 01:16:35,120 --> 01:16:38,560 who's a qualified estate planning attorney to actually 1335 01:16:38,560 --> 01:16:41,800 put those wishes into fruition. I think it's really, really 1336 01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:42,680 important. OK. 1337 01:16:43,600 --> 01:16:46,920 You may leave an inheritance to an unbelieving child without 1338 01:16:47,040 --> 01:16:49,400 approving of their beliefs. And as a matter of fact, doing 1339 01:16:49,400 --> 01:16:51,520 that and showing love may be something that might bring them 1340 01:16:51,520 --> 01:16:53,000 into the fold. OK. 1341 01:16:53,360 --> 01:16:57,200 So you can also do the opposite when it's, it's important to be 1342 01:16:57,200 --> 01:16:58,160 able to do. OK. 1343 01:16:58,400 --> 01:17:03,800 But keep in mind Proverbs does command leaving a godly legacy. 1344 01:17:04,200 --> 01:17:08,480 OK, but it doesn't command reckless distribution. 1345 01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:10,400 That's probably the better way of putting it, right? 1346 01:17:10,720 --> 01:17:14,480 So you've got to pray, seek some counsel and, and, and go from 1347 01:17:14,480 --> 01:17:14,720 there. Yeah. 1348 01:17:16,480 --> 01:17:21,080 Our next question is from Grace. She says I am going into my 1349 01:17:21,080 --> 01:17:24,800 junior year at a public high school in Southern California. 1350 01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:27,680 It feels like the things people are doing, and even some of the 1351 01:17:27,680 --> 01:17:31,040 things being taught are becoming increasingly dark and opposed to 1352 01:17:31,080 --> 01:17:34,280 a biblical worldview. As an outspoken Christian and 1353 01:17:34,280 --> 01:17:37,800 Club America chapter leader, there are times when I feel 1354 01:17:37,800 --> 01:17:40,760 outnumbered and even a little lonely in my faith. 1355 01:17:41,080 --> 01:17:44,320 How do I stand firm and guard my heart from the darkness around 1356 01:17:44,320 --> 01:17:47,840 me without isolating myself from the people I'm called to love? 1357 01:17:49,240 --> 01:17:51,320 I love that she's a Club America chapter leader. 1358 01:17:52,080 --> 01:17:55,040 I mean. We have the best students, we 1359 01:17:55,040 --> 01:18:00,200 have the best students. So on fire for the Lord and just 1360 01:18:00,200 --> 01:18:03,200 amazing patriots. I love them so much. 1361 01:18:04,760 --> 01:18:10,320 I almost feel unworthy of of answering the question because I 1362 01:18:10,320 --> 01:18:14,760 mean, her question is, is like the question already has a bunch 1363 01:18:14,760 --> 01:18:17,760 of answers. I mean, Grace, you have a ton of 1364 01:18:17,760 --> 01:18:20,280 wisdom. You have a ton of wisdom. 1365 01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:22,200 I'm going to call you Hadis because that's how you pronounce 1366 01:18:22,200 --> 01:18:26,440 your name in in Greek. And it means favorable. 1367 01:18:26,680 --> 01:18:28,320 This is where your your name comes from. 1368 01:18:28,520 --> 01:18:30,280 That's where we get the word charisma from. 1369 01:18:30,280 --> 01:18:32,640 Like you are a favorable person. And boy, do you have that. 1370 01:18:33,040 --> 01:18:36,680 Let me, let me just tell you, OK, Let me just say this. 1371 01:18:36,920 --> 01:18:39,240 What you're describing is difficult, but you're not alone. 1372 01:18:39,400 --> 01:18:42,280 OK, This was the problem Charlie faced. 1373 01:18:42,640 --> 01:18:44,680 This is the problem that so many other people face. 1374 01:18:45,560 --> 01:18:48,920 One of the favorite, one of my favorite examples of this is is 1375 01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:50,960 Daniel. Daniel was a young man that was 1376 01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:55,000 placed in an educational system that was designed to reshape his 1377 01:18:55,000 --> 01:18:57,840 identity and his worldview. People don't look at the story 1378 01:18:57,840 --> 01:19:01,360 of Daniel that way. Daniel was in his young teens by 1379 01:19:01,360 --> 01:19:05,840 the time he was taken by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon, and 1380 01:19:05,840 --> 01:19:08,680 that's exactly what he was in. He was in an educational system 1381 01:19:08,680 --> 01:19:10,640 that was designed to change all of that stuff. 1382 01:19:11,200 --> 01:19:16,480 He learned what Babylon taught without allowing Babylon to 1383 01:19:16,480 --> 01:19:19,360 determine what he believed. I think that's really important. 1384 01:19:19,640 --> 01:19:24,600 Daniel 18 actually says that. It says that Daniel purposed in 1385 01:19:24,600 --> 01:19:27,760 his heart that he would not defile himself. 1386 01:19:28,080 --> 01:19:30,040 OK, so clearly you've already done that. 1387 01:19:30,680 --> 01:19:36,240 Daniel decided where he stood before any moment of pressure 1388 01:19:36,240 --> 01:19:37,680 came his way. OK. 1389 01:19:37,880 --> 01:19:39,080 And you need to do the same thing. 1390 01:19:39,080 --> 01:19:40,400 I think you've already done the same thing. 1391 01:19:40,880 --> 01:19:43,940 You've got to know which biblical convictions are non 1392 01:19:43,940 --> 01:19:46,880 negotiable and determine in advance how you're going to 1393 01:19:46,880 --> 01:19:50,480 respond when they are challenged because they will be challenged. 1394 01:19:50,480 --> 01:19:54,200 And keep this in mind if you even think about what Jesus 1395 01:19:54,200 --> 01:19:57,760 prayed for all of us. He he never prayed that we would 1396 01:19:57,760 --> 01:20:00,400 be removed from the world. Kind of wish we he did pray 1397 01:20:00,440 --> 01:20:05,480 that, but he didn't he he said this, he said, I pray that thou 1398 01:20:05,480 --> 01:20:09,200 shouldest take them, that thou shouldest take them out of the 1399 01:20:09,200 --> 01:20:12,680 world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 1400 01:20:13,040 --> 01:20:15,720 I mean, that's like that's powerful. 1401 01:20:15,960 --> 01:20:19,480 Like Lord he, he told the Father, don't take them out of 1402 01:20:19,480 --> 01:20:21,200 the world, just keep them from evil. 1403 01:20:21,200 --> 01:20:23,160 Protect them that he was saying this of his disciples. 1404 01:20:24,040 --> 01:20:26,360 You are not called to isolate yourself from unbelievers. 1405 01:20:26,400 --> 01:20:28,040 There's nowhere in the Scriptures where it teaches 1406 01:20:28,040 --> 01:20:29,600 that. But you are called to remain 1407 01:20:29,600 --> 01:20:33,240 faithful while we're living out your life. 1408 01:20:33,600 --> 01:20:36,080 You're you're called, you're called to remain. 1409 01:20:36,800 --> 01:20:39,520 You're called to be faithful to what God has asked you to do 1410 01:20:39,520 --> 01:20:41,520 while you live your life even amongst them. 1411 01:20:41,520 --> 01:20:43,400 Let me take it a step further, OK? 1412 01:20:43,760 --> 01:20:47,840 Isolation will prevent you from becoming a witness, but if you 1413 01:20:47,840 --> 01:20:50,480 assimilate, it's going to destroy your witness, so the 1414 01:20:50,480 --> 01:20:53,800 goal can't be either. Guarding your heart means that 1415 01:20:53,800 --> 01:20:56,800 you have to be selective about the things that shape you, OK? 1416 01:20:57,000 --> 01:20:58,720 Be kind and approachable to everybody. 1417 01:20:59,320 --> 01:21:03,000 Like, look at the playbook of Charlie's life, OK? 1418 01:21:03,400 --> 01:21:06,240 He was kind and approachable to everybody. 1419 01:21:06,720 --> 01:21:09,120 He put the microphone down so people could talk to him. 1420 01:21:09,320 --> 01:21:12,440 OK? Choose your closest friendships 1421 01:21:12,440 --> 01:21:13,720 carefully. You have to. 1422 01:21:13,720 --> 01:21:17,680 You cannot have people close to you that are going to harm you. 1423 01:21:17,680 --> 01:21:20,680 They have to be the the people that are the closest to you need 1424 01:21:20,680 --> 01:21:23,640 to be the people that will help you to accomplish your God 1425 01:21:23,640 --> 01:21:28,880 purpose, your Kingdom purpose. But the people you love do not 1426 01:21:28,880 --> 01:21:32,320 automatically receive permission to influence your convictions. 1427 01:21:32,320 --> 01:21:35,320 They can't, OK? You have to stay closely 1428 01:21:35,320 --> 01:21:38,480 connected to people like your parents, your church, your youth 1429 01:21:38,480 --> 01:21:40,440 leaders, mature Christian friends. 1430 01:21:40,440 --> 01:21:44,880 You got to stay close to them, OK, but don't attempt in this my 1431 01:21:44,880 --> 01:21:47,680 opinion, don't actually, I think it's a biblical opinion. 1432 01:21:48,080 --> 01:21:51,520 Don't attempt to to stand alone simply to prove that you're 1433 01:21:51,520 --> 01:21:53,720 strong. You'll never make it by doing 1434 01:21:53,720 --> 01:21:56,200 that right? Remember that your classmates 1435 01:21:56,240 --> 01:21:58,600 are people that the Lord loves, OK? 1436 01:21:58,720 --> 01:22:00,520 They're not your political opponents. 1437 01:22:01,040 --> 01:22:03,720 They're not like a projects to be defeated because listen, 1438 01:22:03,880 --> 01:22:06,960 look, I've been to Amfest. I've been in many other places 1439 01:22:06,960 --> 01:22:10,400 and I see these amazing young, enthusiastic kids. 1440 01:22:10,560 --> 01:22:12,160 They're babies in my mind, right? 1441 01:22:12,840 --> 01:22:16,200 And sometimes it's really easy to get caught up in winning the 1442 01:22:16,200 --> 01:22:18,880 debate, but it's not about winning the debate. 1443 01:22:19,360 --> 01:22:22,680 Learn to ask questions, learn to listen carefully to what they 1444 01:22:22,680 --> 01:22:27,800 say and speak to the truthful issues without without becoming 1445 01:22:27,800 --> 01:22:30,800 cruel to them, putting them down or being arrogant, right? 1446 01:22:33,280 --> 01:22:36,160 If you're going to be outspoken, which you should be, it doesn't 1447 01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:39,640 require you responding to every comment or turning to every 1448 01:22:39,640 --> 01:22:42,600 conversation into like some major confrontation. 1449 01:22:42,600 --> 01:22:46,720 Sometimes courage means that you're going to be speaking out 1450 01:22:46,720 --> 01:22:49,560 loud, but sometimes wisdom means that you're listening and 1451 01:22:49,560 --> 01:22:51,880 waiting for the right opportunity, right? 1452 01:22:51,880 --> 01:22:54,840 So just because you have the courage to speak doesn't mean 1453 01:22:54,840 --> 01:22:57,520 you have the wisdom to actually execute that. 1454 01:22:57,520 --> 01:22:59,560 And you need to be able to have both, OK. 1455 01:22:59,560 --> 01:23:00,600 And I think that's really important. 1456 01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:02,320 That's why I actually loved Charlie putting down the 1457 01:23:02,320 --> 01:23:04,160 microphone. He put down the microphone 1458 01:23:04,160 --> 01:23:08,520 because Charlie recognized he needed wisdom from the Lord to 1459 01:23:08,520 --> 01:23:11,680 be able to speak and knew that by putting down the microphone, 1460 01:23:11,680 --> 01:23:14,400 it kept him from being knee jerk in his reaction. 1461 01:23:14,800 --> 01:23:18,560 And it allowed him to be able to understand the matter and to do 1462 01:23:18,560 --> 01:23:20,360 this. And I think that that's really, 1463 01:23:20,360 --> 01:23:22,960 really, really important. And, and even Peter tells us to 1464 01:23:22,960 --> 01:23:25,520 do this exact same thing. He says sanctify the Lord in 1465 01:23:25,520 --> 01:23:28,040 your hearts and be ready to give an answer. 1466 01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:30,200 That's what he says. Be ready to give an answer to 1467 01:23:30,200 --> 01:23:33,360 every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is 1468 01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:34,920 within you. But look what he says. 1469 01:23:35,080 --> 01:23:38,120 He says you do it with meekness and with fear. 1470 01:23:38,360 --> 01:23:41,680 That's the idea. So here's the practical 1471 01:23:41,680 --> 01:23:44,680 exhortation I would give you. Begin each school day. 1472 01:23:44,680 --> 01:23:47,480 I'm sure you probably already do this right with reading the 1473 01:23:47,480 --> 01:23:51,520 Bible and praying before other voices begin to start competing 1474 01:23:51,520 --> 01:23:53,640 for your attention. Don't let them compete for your 1475 01:23:53,640 --> 01:23:55,640 attention. Get that straight first. 1476 01:23:55,640 --> 01:23:56,880 That's why we call them devotions. 1477 01:23:56,880 --> 01:23:58,920 We devote ourselves to God so that we aren't moved. 1478 01:23:59,400 --> 01:24:04,640 Then maintain a strong Christian fellowship outside of school. 1479 01:24:04,640 --> 01:24:06,760 You have to do that. It's critical. 1480 01:24:07,480 --> 01:24:09,800 The other thing I would tell you is find at least one other 1481 01:24:09,800 --> 01:24:13,280 believer on campus with whom you can pray regularly. 1482 01:24:13,280 --> 01:24:17,360 Find them in a corner, pray, identify things, even if it's a 1483 01:24:17,360 --> 01:24:19,720 teacher. But if it's a student, even 1484 01:24:19,720 --> 01:24:23,520 better. And then take some time to learn 1485 01:24:23,520 --> 01:24:27,440 why you believe what you believe so that the talking point 1486 01:24:27,440 --> 01:24:29,760 slogans that you hear with all of these social media 1487 01:24:29,760 --> 01:24:33,360 influencers doesn't replace good solid biblical thinking. 1488 01:24:34,040 --> 01:24:37,600 I, I, I hear too many people give out the talking points, but 1489 01:24:37,600 --> 01:24:39,080 don't make intelligent arguments. 1490 01:24:39,320 --> 01:24:43,360 Think about why you believe what you believe and set boundaries 1491 01:24:43,360 --> 01:24:48,160 around conversations, OK, around things that you know, even in 1492 01:24:48,240 --> 01:24:50,440 your entertainment, what you watch, the relationships that 1493 01:24:50,440 --> 01:24:53,800 you have, Make sure those boundaries preserve who God has 1494 01:24:53,800 --> 01:24:57,200 called you to, to, to be. Now I will say this is 1 1495 01:24:57,200 --> 01:25:04,640 important caveat for this, OK. Which by the way, well, let me 1496 01:25:04,640 --> 01:25:06,160 let me just say this, I think this will summarize the whole 1497 01:25:06,160 --> 01:25:10,760 matter. If you are right now in a 1498 01:25:10,760 --> 01:25:13,360 position where you're being seriously harassed, you're 1499 01:25:13,360 --> 01:25:15,960 getting threats, there's, you know, any kind of inappropriate 1500 01:25:15,960 --> 01:25:18,600 conduct, because there's a lot of that kind of thing happening 1501 01:25:18,600 --> 01:25:22,520 right now on school campus, go to people you can trust about it 1502 01:25:22,520 --> 01:25:24,680 so that you can deal with it. I don't want you to deal with 1503 01:25:24,680 --> 01:25:28,040 that alone, OK? Especially if you feel 1504 01:25:28,040 --> 01:25:30,880 outnumbered. I, I, I want you to have a 1505 01:25:30,880 --> 01:25:35,080 strategic reliance with people that will help you through 1506 01:25:35,120 --> 01:25:37,800 everything. And it's really, really, really 1507 01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:42,000 critical. Now remember this, OK, truth is 1508 01:25:42,000 --> 01:25:45,440 never going to be determined by the, by the large crowd, OK? 1509 01:25:45,680 --> 01:25:51,800 Elijah, he, he also believed at one point that he was the only 1510 01:25:51,800 --> 01:25:55,560 one that had the truth, OK? But God reminded him that even 1511 01:25:55,560 --> 01:25:57,920 though there's not a large crowd, there's a remnant, 1512 01:25:57,960 --> 01:26:00,240 there's people that are with Him. 1513 01:26:00,520 --> 01:26:04,560 And just know you have those people, lean into them, be close 1514 01:26:04,560 --> 01:26:06,760 to them, and stand with a common purpose. 1515 01:26:06,920 --> 01:26:09,720 And I think that you are going to be in great shape. 1516 01:26:10,480 --> 01:26:13,920 Amen. Our next question is similar. 1517 01:26:14,320 --> 01:26:17,040 Her name is Emma. How do you tell when you should 1518 01:26:17,040 --> 01:26:20,760 be a living testimony or avoid people who seek what is against 1519 01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:23,960 biblical values? To be specific, I'm looking for 1520 01:26:23,960 --> 01:26:27,520 a literary agent, but the majority I've seen so far spread 1521 01:26:27,520 --> 01:26:31,160 woke ideology and I feel like pursuing business with them 1522 01:26:31,160 --> 01:26:33,080 would be morally wrong personally. 1523 01:26:36,680 --> 01:26:39,520 Can you, can you help me understand Erica, what she means 1524 01:26:39,520 --> 01:26:40,840 by a literary agent? Is that? 1525 01:26:40,840 --> 01:26:42,320 Is that what I heard you say? Right. 1526 01:26:42,320 --> 01:26:43,640 I think she's trying to write a book. 1527 01:26:43,880 --> 01:26:48,160 And so I think that she's trying to find a literary agent who 1528 01:26:48,160 --> 01:26:54,360 would be able to help publish and do all the different things 1529 01:26:54,360 --> 01:26:56,800 for her book. And that's not woke. 1530 01:26:57,000 --> 01:27:00,760 So I mean, the other option is you just, you know, self 1531 01:27:00,760 --> 01:27:04,240 publish. But yeah, I think she's looking 1532 01:27:04,240 --> 01:27:08,520 for a literary agent who is more conservative leaning or 1533 01:27:08,520 --> 01:27:10,040 Christian. OK, Yeah. 1534 01:27:10,880 --> 01:27:13,960 OK, Yeah, this is, this is important, OK, Because First 1535 01:27:13,960 --> 01:27:16,320 Corinthians tells us not to accompany ourselves with people 1536 01:27:16,320 --> 01:27:19,440 that are ungodly, especially in relationships like this, which 1537 01:27:19,440 --> 01:27:21,480 is really important, like a business type relationship. 1538 01:27:22,840 --> 01:27:25,200 But, but I do want to say this, 'cause this is like really 1539 01:27:25,200 --> 01:27:26,800 important. We we wouldn't be able to 1540 01:27:26,800 --> 01:27:29,160 function in society for if we refuse to do business with 1541 01:27:29,160 --> 01:27:31,320 everybody who held on unbiblical beliefs. 1542 01:27:31,320 --> 01:27:33,760 I mean, it's like we wouldn't you wouldn't, you wouldn't be 1543 01:27:33,760 --> 01:27:36,880 able to get in a plane and fly. Yeah, Yeah, it would be, let me 1544 01:27:36,960 --> 01:27:41,200 mute this for a second. You know, you wouldn't be able 1545 01:27:41,200 --> 01:27:43,160 to do anything, you know, buying something from a company or 1546 01:27:43,160 --> 01:27:46,360 hiring a plumber, you know, working with some unbelievable, 1547 01:27:46,800 --> 01:27:48,080 you know, unbelieving professional. 1548 01:27:50,360 --> 01:27:52,840 It can't mean that you endorse everything that they believe. 1549 01:27:52,840 --> 01:27:55,640 So I just want to say that, but let me say this about a a 1550 01:27:55,640 --> 01:27:57,960 literary agent. The reference that you're making 1551 01:27:57,960 --> 01:28:02,520 to that can involve a whole much a lot more of an influential 1552 01:28:02,520 --> 01:28:05,360 relationship because that person will represent your message. 1553 01:28:05,720 --> 01:28:07,440 They will negotiate on your behalf. 1554 01:28:07,440 --> 01:28:09,600 They're going to advise you about the kind of content that 1555 01:28:09,600 --> 01:28:15,040 you actually put into your book. And they will also shape, in my 1556 01:28:15,040 --> 01:28:17,640 opinion, how your publishers will perceive your work. 1557 01:28:17,640 --> 01:28:20,120 Because correct me if I'm wrong, Erica, when you say literary 1558 01:28:20,120 --> 01:28:22,440 agent, you're meaning somebody that is going to like be her 1559 01:28:22,440 --> 01:28:24,240 manager for writing a book. Is that is that? 1560 01:28:24,320 --> 01:28:26,960 Is that how you understand that? Usually that's correct. 1561 01:28:27,720 --> 01:28:30,040 Yeah, I I might sound like a fool for saying this, but it's 1562 01:28:30,040 --> 01:28:32,040 not a term that I've actually heard before so. 1563 01:28:32,040 --> 01:28:33,520 No, no, no, it's fine. It's fine. 1564 01:28:33,520 --> 01:28:36,960 I mean, there's, there's some you, you truthfully do not need 1565 01:28:36,960 --> 01:28:38,800 a literary agent to write a book. 1566 01:28:39,040 --> 01:28:40,720 You don't. You can self publish. 1567 01:28:40,720 --> 01:28:44,480 You can have self agency. You don't you don't need. 1568 01:28:44,480 --> 01:28:46,960 It's helpful. It's helpful, especially 1569 01:28:46,960 --> 01:28:49,960 navigating through all the different channels of being able 1570 01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:54,040 to get your book out on shelves. But for the most part, I mean, 1571 01:28:55,040 --> 01:28:57,240 we live in such a day and age that you can do anything and 1572 01:28:57,240 --> 01:28:59,280 everything on your. I mean, look at people who write 1573 01:28:59,280 --> 01:29:01,560 and sing songs like they don't need, you know? 1574 01:29:01,560 --> 01:29:03,320 And I'm not saying it's the same as a literary agent. 1575 01:29:03,320 --> 01:29:06,080 I'm just saying they were blessed now to be in a position 1576 01:29:06,080 --> 01:29:08,800 where you do not have to go through the normal chain of 1577 01:29:08,800 --> 01:29:11,520 command in order to get something that you have 1578 01:29:11,560 --> 01:29:14,440 personally created out in the world. 1579 01:29:15,120 --> 01:29:17,280 Right. Yeah, like this book. 1580 01:29:17,280 --> 01:29:21,000 This book is self published. I wrote it, I self published it. 1581 01:29:21,000 --> 01:29:25,120 And I did have a person that I worked with that kind of helped 1582 01:29:25,120 --> 01:29:29,120 me with the planning side of it, but I didn't need any of that. 1583 01:29:29,120 --> 01:29:33,800 And by God's grace, I was #1 best seller in 13 categories on 1584 01:29:33,800 --> 01:29:38,040 Amazon for that, for that book. So you can do it without any of 1585 01:29:38,040 --> 01:29:42,920 that. But I would say, because I know 1586 01:29:42,920 --> 01:29:46,680 there's plenty of them, right? You should determine whether the 1587 01:29:46,680 --> 01:29:51,240 agent holds your views. Just just think about it like 1588 01:29:51,240 --> 01:29:53,200 this. Find an agent that loves God. 1589 01:29:54,120 --> 01:29:55,560 Well, this goes for honestly any. 1590 01:29:55,960 --> 01:29:59,080 It goes for. Any, any industry for regardless 1591 01:29:59,080 --> 01:30:01,880 if it's for books, it goes for modeling, it goes for acting, it 1592 01:30:01,880 --> 01:30:06,240 goes for even sports. As a sports agent, you know, if 1593 01:30:06,240 --> 01:30:09,560 there's this is something that holistically, if you were going 1594 01:30:09,560 --> 01:30:12,680 to have someone represent you, negotiate your contracts, 1595 01:30:12,680 --> 01:30:16,520 negotiate your finances for those contracts, like it's this 1596 01:30:16,520 --> 01:30:21,320 is a, this is a holistic thing just in general, yeah. 1597 01:30:21,440 --> 01:30:24,160 And I, yeah, and I will tell you, look, I've even had 1598 01:30:24,160 --> 01:30:27,160 Christian organizations. I had one just recently come to 1599 01:30:27,160 --> 01:30:31,720 me big, big publisher and offer me an advance on Part 2 of my 1600 01:30:31,720 --> 01:30:34,080 Revelation book. And the contract didn't make 1601 01:30:34,080 --> 01:30:35,560 sense. It wasn't good for me or my 1602 01:30:35,560 --> 01:30:37,000 family. And I just said no, by the way, 1603 01:30:37,000 --> 01:30:39,600 they're one of the big ones and one of the big, big ones. 1604 01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:43,800 And I said no, and they're still bothering me, but I just knew it 1605 01:30:43,800 --> 01:30:45,280 wasn't, it just wasn't a good choice. 1606 01:30:45,560 --> 01:30:47,960 I'm not aligned with I'm, it's not like I'm not aligned with 1607 01:30:47,960 --> 01:30:52,240 them, you know, but I just know from a business perspective 1608 01:30:52,440 --> 01:30:54,600 what's better for me and my family. 1609 01:30:54,600 --> 01:30:56,560 And I, of course, I'm thinking about my children. 1610 01:30:56,840 --> 01:30:59,640 So just because they are godly doesn't mean that they're also 1611 01:30:59,640 --> 01:31:02,040 the right choice. You have to actually be wise and 1612 01:31:02,360 --> 01:31:05,480 in how you engage. So there's a lot to be thinking 1613 01:31:05,480 --> 01:31:07,080 about. But a relationship like that, 1614 01:31:07,080 --> 01:31:09,600 I'd be very, very careful about that. 1615 01:31:09,680 --> 01:31:12,440 That's what I would say. Our next question is from Kelly 1616 01:31:12,440 --> 01:31:14,200 Sue. We have about 20 minutes left. 1617 01:31:14,520 --> 01:31:17,600 How does a wife remain steadfast when she is exhausted by the 1618 01:31:17,600 --> 01:31:20,880 caretaking of her once healthy and active husband that has 1619 01:31:20,880 --> 01:31:22,840 suddenly and unexpectedly fallen? 1620 01:31:22,840 --> 01:31:27,320 I'll he being the breadwinner, faith filled leader and strength 1621 01:31:27,360 --> 01:31:33,360 of the family. That's a very, very, very tough 1622 01:31:33,360 --> 01:31:36,440 question. I mean, caretaking is not, it's 1623 01:31:36,440 --> 01:31:39,120 not easy. It's it's hard. 1624 01:31:40,360 --> 01:31:41,960 It's hard. And you, you need a village 1625 01:31:41,960 --> 01:31:48,080 around you. Not, not saying that you need 1626 01:31:48,320 --> 01:31:51,320 other caretaker. You understand what I'm saying 1627 01:31:51,320 --> 01:31:55,760 is like, it's not it, is it, it, it takes a toll on you. 1628 01:31:55,760 --> 01:31:59,760 If you do not have either boundaries or other people 1629 01:31:59,760 --> 01:32:02,880 helping you, you can't do it. You can't do it alone. 1630 01:32:03,560 --> 01:32:06,040 You can't do it alone. That's very, it's very hard. 1631 01:32:06,280 --> 01:32:08,560 That's hard. Yeah, I think, I think you 1632 01:32:08,560 --> 01:32:10,240 summarized it actually quite well. 1633 01:32:10,240 --> 01:32:12,600 And, and and I want to say this because it's important, right. 1634 01:32:12,600 --> 01:32:18,160 Look, remaining steadfast with, with, with helping your husband 1635 01:32:18,160 --> 01:32:20,360 doesn't mean pretending that you're not exhausted, right? 1636 01:32:20,360 --> 01:32:22,440 Like you have to acknowledge that you're exhausted because if 1637 01:32:22,440 --> 01:32:25,360 you're, if you don't acknowledge you're exhausted, you're you're 1638 01:32:25,360 --> 01:32:27,400 going to run both, both of you are going to run into the 1639 01:32:27,400 --> 01:32:29,640 ground. It, it doesn't mean that you're 1640 01:32:29,640 --> 01:32:33,800 not supposed to be grieving. Look, here's, here's the thing. 1641 01:32:33,960 --> 01:32:35,840 You're grieving more than your husband's health. 1642 01:32:36,000 --> 01:32:38,560 Like I, I think this is like, this is important to understand. 1643 01:32:38,720 --> 01:32:41,600 You're actually grieving the sudden loss of the life that you 1644 01:32:41,600 --> 01:32:47,600 guys shared because the roles that gave your family stability 1645 01:32:47,600 --> 01:32:50,160 is gone, right? So the, the, whatever the future 1646 01:32:50,160 --> 01:32:52,280 it was that you expected, you're grieving all of those things 1647 01:32:52,280 --> 01:32:54,040 right now. And, and I'm not saying that 1648 01:32:54,040 --> 01:32:56,520 your husband has lost his value. What I'm still saying is that 1649 01:32:56,520 --> 01:33:00,160 your, your husband is still present, but much of what was 1650 01:33:00,160 --> 01:33:05,360 once, what once felt familiar as a family has completely changed. 1651 01:33:05,360 --> 01:33:10,000 So that's a real form of grief and you should be allowed to 1652 01:33:10,000 --> 01:33:13,080 name it without feeling guilty or disloyed or even be accused 1653 01:33:13,240 --> 01:33:16,680 of being somebody. That's that's as such. 1654 01:33:16,680 --> 01:33:18,320 But there's a verse that does come to my mind. 1655 01:33:18,320 --> 01:33:21,160 I think it's really important. It's in Galatians, It says in 1656 01:33:21,160 --> 01:33:24,680 chapter 6, bear you one another's burdens and so fulfill 1657 01:33:24,680 --> 01:33:26,280 the law of Christ. And I don't think I'm taking 1658 01:33:26,280 --> 01:33:28,680 that out of context, that the command is addressed to the body 1659 01:33:28,680 --> 01:33:30,800 of Christ. And it doesn't say that one 1660 01:33:30,800 --> 01:33:34,520 exhausted has to carry. You know, one exhausted wife 1661 01:33:34,520 --> 01:33:37,600 should carry her husband, the household, the finances, the 1662 01:33:37,600 --> 01:33:39,560 children, all the emotional distress by herself. 1663 01:33:39,560 --> 01:33:43,320 That's crazy, right? The church should help bear this 1664 01:33:43,320 --> 01:33:45,120 burden. So the first thing that I would 1665 01:33:45,120 --> 01:33:49,080 tell you is tell your pastor, tell the elders, your family, 1666 01:33:49,080 --> 01:33:51,640 trusted friends, exactly what is needed. 1667 01:33:51,640 --> 01:33:56,440 Tell them how you're feeling. By the way, avoid general 1668 01:33:56,440 --> 01:33:58,880 statements like we're struggling, OK? 1669 01:33:59,280 --> 01:34:01,760 Because if you say, oh, we're struggling, you know what you're 1670 01:34:01,760 --> 01:34:03,240 going to get? You're going to get people say, 1671 01:34:03,240 --> 01:34:05,400 oh, we'll be praying for you, OK. 1672 01:34:06,120 --> 01:34:09,480 I think you should be very specific about the things that 1673 01:34:09,480 --> 01:34:12,120 are happening. You know, maybe it's mentioning, 1674 01:34:12,120 --> 01:34:14,840 can I get someone to provide a meal on a particular day? 1675 01:34:14,840 --> 01:34:18,400 Like let's do a rotation or someone that might stay with 1676 01:34:18,400 --> 01:34:22,360 your husband while you find some moment of respite, you know, 1677 01:34:22,360 --> 01:34:25,720 just just a time of of rest, maybe while you go to an 1678 01:34:25,720 --> 01:34:28,960 appointment or to maybe help with transportation or errands 1679 01:34:28,960 --> 01:34:32,000 or even cleaning or some level of home maintenance, you know, 1680 01:34:32,000 --> 01:34:35,000 he had to maintain the home. Something like that, you know, 1681 01:34:35,000 --> 01:34:38,120 or to maybe assist with some paperwork that you're not 1682 01:34:38,120 --> 01:34:41,560 acclimated in or accustomed to be able to handle, whether it be 1683 01:34:41,560 --> 01:34:45,240 that or insurance or resources for disability or financial 1684 01:34:45,240 --> 01:34:46,600 planning. Like all of those things, you 1685 01:34:46,600 --> 01:34:49,000 have to be very specific, you know. 1686 01:34:49,760 --> 01:34:53,240 And by the way, I would also arrange like put on a schedule 1687 01:34:53,360 --> 01:34:56,760 so that when you don't feel like it, it still happens anyway for 1688 01:34:56,760 --> 01:35:01,320 your health, like regular visits, so that the both of you 1689 01:35:01,320 --> 01:35:03,800 are receiving some kind of fellowship within the context 1690 01:35:03,800 --> 01:35:07,280 that you find yourself in. You have to create a dependable 1691 01:35:07,280 --> 01:35:11,880 schedule of some level of respite, some level of rest 1692 01:35:12,280 --> 01:35:13,800 rather than waiting for an emergency. 1693 01:35:13,800 --> 01:35:16,880 If you wait for an emergency, you are going to be in trouble. 1694 01:35:16,880 --> 01:35:21,000 Now, leave it to me to say this. Leave it to me to bring this to 1695 01:35:21,000 --> 01:35:22,960 your attention. But you have to care for your 1696 01:35:22,960 --> 01:35:25,960 body, OK? You've got to sleep. 1697 01:35:26,280 --> 01:35:28,600 You've got to eat right? You've got to take care of 1698 01:35:28,600 --> 01:35:30,720 yourself. You've got to do the things that 1699 01:35:30,720 --> 01:35:33,800 are necessary in order for you to be able to be healthy. 1700 01:35:34,360 --> 01:35:38,920 You know, in First Kings chapter 19, Elijah was literally losing 1701 01:35:38,920 --> 01:35:40,960 his mind. He was going crazy. 1702 01:35:41,160 --> 01:35:44,640 He was literally physically and emotionally depleted. 1703 01:35:44,640 --> 01:35:48,400 I mean, he was a wreck and God didn't just like go in and start 1704 01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:51,520 condemning him. God said, dude, go to sleep and 1705 01:35:51,520 --> 01:35:54,360 then gave him food and then made him go to sleep again, woke him 1706 01:35:54,360 --> 01:35:59,120 up and give him even more food. So it was he he needed that and 1707 01:35:59,120 --> 01:36:02,160 it gave him a little bit more strength and then he said he'd 1708 01:36:02,160 --> 01:36:06,080 get to work. So, you know, also from one 1709 01:36:06,080 --> 01:36:08,240 other perspective, and if your husband is anything like the 1710 01:36:08,240 --> 01:36:11,760 way, I think he's probably very much grieving at the loss of his 1711 01:36:11,760 --> 01:36:13,800 strength, at the loss of, you know, his employment. 1712 01:36:14,120 --> 01:36:17,160 It's it's a very difficult thing as a man to no longer be able to 1713 01:36:17,160 --> 01:36:21,640 provide for your family. So do your best to include him 1714 01:36:21,640 --> 01:36:24,160 in this process, right? Include him in these decisions. 1715 01:36:24,160 --> 01:36:27,240 Bring him into the fold with with whatever you have that you 1716 01:36:27,240 --> 01:36:29,880 can bring him into the fold with, because bringing him in 1717 01:36:29,880 --> 01:36:33,280 that place will also help him to strengthen and to get better and 1718 01:36:33,280 --> 01:36:35,840 to find victory in these very difficult circumstances. 1719 01:36:37,880 --> 01:36:41,680 And just remember that God's grace, we'll carry you through 1720 01:36:41,680 --> 01:36:44,920 this. His sustaining grace will arrive 1721 01:36:45,440 --> 01:36:48,360 through other people. In some cases, it will arrive at 1722 01:36:48,360 --> 01:36:50,320 medical care, practical assistance. 1723 01:36:50,440 --> 01:36:54,320 Receive it all because God wants to bring it your way. 1724 01:36:54,600 --> 01:36:57,560 And, and I'm just going to say this, remaining steadfast by 1725 01:36:57,560 --> 01:37:04,600 continuing to love your husband is important, but don't confuse 1726 01:37:04,600 --> 01:37:06,400 faithfulness with self destruction. 1727 01:37:07,200 --> 01:37:09,680 Don't allow this to be your license to destroy yourself, 1728 01:37:09,720 --> 01:37:13,280 right? Ask for help before you 1729 01:37:13,280 --> 01:37:17,320 completely collapse. Don't let that happen. 1730 01:37:17,640 --> 01:37:21,840 Establish regular rest, care for yourself, OK? 1731 01:37:22,040 --> 01:37:25,320 Allow the church to function the way God designed for the church 1732 01:37:25,320 --> 01:37:26,840 to function. OK? 1733 01:37:27,400 --> 01:37:31,760 You are his wife. That's super, super, super 1734 01:37:31,760 --> 01:37:34,400 important. But you're not his medical team, 1735 01:37:35,120 --> 01:37:37,880 You're not as financial system, you're not as church community, 1736 01:37:38,120 --> 01:37:41,040 OK? You're certainly not a source of 1737 01:37:41,040 --> 01:37:44,720 strength. That whole burden belongs to the 1738 01:37:44,720 --> 01:37:47,160 Lord, and he will bring it in through his body. 1739 01:37:47,320 --> 01:37:49,120 He will bring it in through other people. 1740 01:37:49,480 --> 01:37:55,240 But you can't take that on. Next question is from Christine. 1741 01:37:55,880 --> 01:37:57,880 My uncle had a heart attack on Tuesday. 1742 01:37:57,880 --> 01:38:00,600 The doctors were able to revive his heart, but he had no brain 1743 01:38:00,600 --> 01:38:03,120 activity and ended up passing away the following day. 1744 01:38:03,560 --> 01:38:06,040 My uncle had fallen away from the church and was not a 1745 01:38:06,040 --> 01:38:08,680 believer. I know we have a good, just and 1746 01:38:08,680 --> 01:38:11,440 merciful God. Do you think in the time between 1747 01:38:11,440 --> 01:38:13,880 the heart attack and when he passed, he was given the 1748 01:38:13,880 --> 01:38:18,400 opportunity to accept Christ? Well, the answer to that is 1749 01:38:18,400 --> 01:38:21,040 it's, it's, it's highly possible that could have happened, but 1750 01:38:21,040 --> 01:38:23,520 I'm going to also visit another area that I think is really 1751 01:38:23,520 --> 01:38:25,200 important. And it goes back to how 1752 01:38:25,200 --> 01:38:28,560 salvation is obtained. Salvation is not obtained by 1753 01:38:28,560 --> 01:38:30,560 your actions. It's not obtained about what you 1754 01:38:30,560 --> 01:38:32,920 do or what your emotional state is in the moment. 1755 01:38:33,440 --> 01:38:36,280 Salvation is obtained by putting your faith and trust in Christ. 1756 01:38:36,680 --> 01:38:40,040 So what's to say your husband did not put his faith in, or I 1757 01:38:40,040 --> 01:38:42,320 mean your, your, your uncle did not put his. 1758 01:38:42,640 --> 01:38:45,560 Yeah, your uncle didn't put his faith and trust in Christ long 1759 01:38:45,560 --> 01:38:49,000 before you ever knew about it and decided to go out on a whim. 1760 01:38:49,520 --> 01:38:52,200 He still has a salvation that God had promised him. 1761 01:38:52,680 --> 01:38:55,640 The one thing that I will tell you is we have people that are 1762 01:38:55,640 --> 01:38:58,520 in near death situations that go to the Lord and God saves them 1763 01:38:58,520 --> 01:39:01,920 right away. What about the, the, the thief 1764 01:39:01,920 --> 01:39:04,040 on the cross? Jesus told him, Hey, you're 1765 01:39:04,040 --> 01:39:10,760 going to be with me in paradise. So I will say that although 1766 01:39:10,760 --> 01:39:14,000 we're not promised, everybody's promised this opportunity to 1767 01:39:14,000 --> 01:39:17,360 repent at the last minute. We don't know what happened and 1768 01:39:17,480 --> 01:39:21,840 we don't even know if he really truly did put his faith and 1769 01:39:21,840 --> 01:39:23,680 trust in Christ and just went through a moment where he 1770 01:39:23,680 --> 01:39:25,720 basically said, I want nothing to do with the Lord, even though 1771 01:39:25,720 --> 01:39:30,400 he didn't really believe that. So I can tell you, I can tell 1772 01:39:30,400 --> 01:39:33,320 you that it's appropriate to hope that your uncle turned to 1773 01:39:33,320 --> 01:39:36,520 Christ before death. But like, just understand, 1774 01:39:36,920 --> 01:39:39,440 that's not to say that he probably hasn't already done it, 1775 01:39:39,760 --> 01:39:43,720 OK? But all that hope that we have 1776 01:39:43,720 --> 01:39:45,840 has to remain in the hands of the Lord, and it's in a better 1777 01:39:45,840 --> 01:39:47,680 place to remain in than our hands. 1778 01:39:47,960 --> 01:39:50,640 OK. So, you know, I think that the, 1779 01:39:50,720 --> 01:39:54,440 the, the lesson from this is life is short, Amen. 1780 01:39:54,440 --> 01:39:56,400 So make sure you have short accounts with God. 1781 01:39:56,400 --> 01:39:58,680 And I think that's probably the the appropriate thing to say 1782 01:39:58,680 --> 01:40:01,640 here. And Lord willing, your uncle we 1783 01:40:01,640 --> 01:40:03,640 will see in heaven one day. Amen. 1784 01:40:03,920 --> 01:40:06,520 It's our hope and our prayer. Amen. 1785 01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:11,480 Next questions from Dominique. With the rise of Christian 1786 01:40:11,480 --> 01:40:14,760 influencers and misinformation, I've heard several people say 1787 01:40:14,840 --> 01:40:18,800 quotation, Jesus prays for us in heaven, UN quote. 1788 01:40:19,160 --> 01:40:21,560 Does he really do that being at the right hand of God? 1789 01:40:21,760 --> 01:40:24,400 Or is there any scriptural basis of this? 1790 01:40:26,320 --> 01:40:29,560 OK, yeah, this is a really good question because it is funny to 1791 01:40:29,560 --> 01:40:33,800 see people online who have all of a sudden become theologians 1792 01:40:34,160 --> 01:40:36,840 and and act as though they have formal training in this stuff, 1793 01:40:38,160 --> 01:40:40,640 which is which is a little a little crazy. 1794 01:40:41,040 --> 01:40:44,000 But with that, I will say that there is direct scriptural 1795 01:40:44,000 --> 01:40:47,880 support for saying that Jesus intercedes for believers in 1796 01:40:47,880 --> 01:40:49,040 heaven. We do. 1797 01:40:49,480 --> 01:40:53,080 We do say that if somebody says Jesus prays for us, I don't 1798 01:40:53,080 --> 01:40:56,920 think it would be unreasonable to express it. 1799 01:40:56,920 --> 01:41:00,520 But I think that the biblical word is more intercedes, I 1800 01:41:00,520 --> 01:41:02,120 think. I think there is a technicality 1801 01:41:02,120 --> 01:41:03,960 and that technicality matters, right? 1802 01:41:04,240 --> 01:41:06,480 Romans 8 says, who is it that condemneth? 1803 01:41:07,360 --> 01:41:10,720 Is it Christ that died? Yeah, rather that is risen 1804 01:41:10,720 --> 01:41:16,320 again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh 1805 01:41:16,320 --> 01:41:21,080 intercession for us? Hebrews 7 does the same thing, 1806 01:41:21,320 --> 01:41:24,520 You know, Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost 1807 01:41:24,520 --> 01:41:28,760 that come unto God by him, seeing that He ever liveth to 1808 01:41:28,760 --> 01:41:34,600 make intercession for us. John chapter 2 describes Jesus 1809 01:41:34,600 --> 01:41:38,240 as our advocate first. John chapter 2, by the way, 1810 01:41:38,480 --> 01:41:41,160 describes Jesus as our advocate. He says, my little children, 1811 01:41:41,160 --> 01:41:42,800 these things I write unto you that you said not. 1812 01:41:42,800 --> 01:41:47,720 And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 1813 01:41:47,720 --> 01:41:50,440 Christ the righteous. So Jesus is being described as 1814 01:41:50,440 --> 01:41:53,640 the advocate who was with the Father who advocates for us. 1815 01:41:53,880 --> 01:41:58,600 So with that said, let me dig into what some of the social 1816 01:41:58,600 --> 01:42:00,760 media influencers are saying, just for a second. 1817 01:42:01,640 --> 01:42:04,160 His intercession doesn't mean that Jesus must continually 1818 01:42:04,160 --> 01:42:06,560 persuade an unwilling father to love or forgive us. 1819 01:42:07,000 --> 01:42:09,640 OK, Like like that's, that's kind of an important thing. 1820 01:42:09,920 --> 01:42:15,400 This I want to get rid of the, the, what appears to be some of 1821 01:42:15,400 --> 01:42:19,440 the Main Street, the, the, the mainstream mindset that exists 1822 01:42:19,440 --> 01:42:22,400 within some teachings that teach this. 1823 01:42:23,120 --> 01:42:25,600 The the father already loves us, OK? 1824 01:42:25,800 --> 01:42:28,520 He sent the Son for our salvation. 1825 01:42:29,000 --> 01:42:32,200 OK, so the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are united. 1826 01:42:32,200 --> 01:42:35,440 This isn't Jesus going to to to the Father and say I want to 1827 01:42:35,440 --> 01:42:37,280 change your mind, I want to change your mind, I want to 1828 01:42:37,280 --> 01:42:38,520 change your mind. OK. 1829 01:42:39,360 --> 01:42:42,760 It also doesn't mean that Christ repeatedly offers himself as a 1830 01:42:42,760 --> 01:42:45,080 sacrifice. That would also be incorrect. 1831 01:42:45,480 --> 01:42:47,720 His sacrifice was completed once and for all. 1832 01:42:47,720 --> 01:42:53,840 Hebrews 10/12 actually tells us that the presence of Christ at 1833 01:42:53,840 --> 01:42:59,680 the Father's right hand, he's a continual testimony to the 1834 01:42:59,680 --> 01:43:03,000 sufficiency of the work that he has done that's finished. 1835 01:43:03,560 --> 01:43:08,640 He he represents believers before the Father as our as our 1836 01:43:08,640 --> 01:43:12,440 living high priest and our advocate. 1837 01:43:12,760 --> 01:43:17,280 So it's a priestly role that he takes on when when Satan accuses 1838 01:43:17,760 --> 01:43:20,520 and when we sin and when we feel condemned. 1839 01:43:20,720 --> 01:43:24,160 Our security doesn't depend on our ability to defend ourselves. 1840 01:43:24,760 --> 01:43:27,640 Jesus Christ because we've put our faith and trust in him. 1841 01:43:28,000 --> 01:43:31,800 He represents us on the basis of his righteousness and his 1842 01:43:31,800 --> 01:43:35,000 completed sacrifice. Hebrews talks about this. 1843 01:43:35,160 --> 01:43:39,120 He is our high priest right now. Soon one day we'll become king. 1844 01:43:40,080 --> 01:43:46,160 So we also see Jesus in, in the in the in the Bible, praying for 1845 01:43:46,160 --> 01:43:48,320 his followers, like in passages like John. 1846 01:43:48,880 --> 01:43:51,600 I think it's John 17. It's either John 16 or 17. 1847 01:43:51,600 --> 01:43:55,360 My, my, my brain isn't. I think it's John 17. 1848 01:43:57,240 --> 01:44:01,000 He also prays for those who would later believe through the 1849 01:44:01,000 --> 01:44:03,160 message of the apostles. So we know that he's talking 1850 01:44:03,160 --> 01:44:05,760 about us. So the claim that Jesus 1851 01:44:05,760 --> 01:44:11,320 intercedes for us, is it like some speculation that 1852 01:44:11,320 --> 01:44:15,720 influencers bring up online? It is a very explicit biblical 1853 01:44:15,720 --> 01:44:17,840 doctrine. OK, He died for us. 1854 01:44:18,120 --> 01:44:21,080 He rose from the dead. He sits at the Father's right 1855 01:44:21,080 --> 01:44:24,400 hand, and he presently intercedes for those who belong 1856 01:44:24,400 --> 01:44:26,360 to him. He is our high priest. 1857 01:44:26,880 --> 01:44:28,680 But you have to understand how that works. 1858 01:44:29,000 --> 01:44:30,760 And that's in a very, very important part of it. 1859 01:44:30,760 --> 01:44:33,200 He's our advocate and, and I think that that's important. 1860 01:44:33,360 --> 01:44:37,720 He functions as our High Priest. There are three questions. 1861 01:44:37,720 --> 01:44:40,640 I know we're getting closer to our end of time, but I want to 1862 01:44:41,280 --> 01:44:44,560 these three questions I want to hit before we end. 1863 01:44:45,200 --> 01:44:49,120 So we'll just we'll just pepper through them if if that's good. 1864 01:44:49,120 --> 01:44:49,480 Yeah. Happy. 1865 01:44:49,560 --> 01:44:51,360 To do it. No problem, no problem. 1866 01:44:52,040 --> 01:44:54,600 Next questions from Dina. I recently divorced my husband 1867 01:44:54,600 --> 01:44:57,240 of five years due to ongoing struggles with instability, 1868 01:44:57,240 --> 01:44:59,840 mental health issues, addiction and financial issues. 1869 01:44:59,840 --> 01:45:02,600 Even though we are divorced, I still care about his well-being. 1870 01:45:02,880 --> 01:45:05,640 I've been pulling back my financial and emotional support 1871 01:45:05,640 --> 01:45:08,640 little by little, but I am still sacrificing some of myself to 1872 01:45:08,640 --> 01:45:10,760 help him. How do you know the difference 1873 01:45:10,760 --> 01:45:13,920 between being loving and supportive toward an ex-spouse 1874 01:45:14,040 --> 01:45:18,280 who is struggling financially and emotionally versus enabling 1875 01:45:18,280 --> 01:45:21,800 them or staying emotionally tied in an unhealthy way? 1876 01:45:22,120 --> 01:45:24,720 What does a godly balance look like? 1877 01:45:27,960 --> 01:45:31,320 So this is this is 1 where I have to be brief about on 1878 01:45:31,320 --> 01:45:34,160 purpose because there's too much about your situation that I 1879 01:45:34,160 --> 01:45:34,760 just. Don't know. 1880 01:45:34,800 --> 01:45:38,280 You don't know, right? So I want to nuance all of this 1881 01:45:38,280 --> 01:45:42,680 by just simply, yeah. And there's a lot of context 1882 01:45:42,680 --> 01:45:50,400 that I just don't know. OK, But assuming that the 1883 01:45:50,400 --> 01:45:53,600 grounds for your divorce are biblical and I don't know if 1884 01:45:53,600 --> 01:45:55,640 they are or not, I just don't know I don't know the 1885 01:45:55,640 --> 01:45:59,280 circumstances, right, because that provides other there's 1886 01:45:59,280 --> 01:46:02,640 other issues tied to your to your interaction with him right 1887 01:46:02,640 --> 01:46:05,040 now as we speak based on what happened with the divorce. 1888 01:46:05,840 --> 01:46:07,480 That's something you're going to have to sit down with somebody 1889 01:46:07,480 --> 01:46:10,280 who knows the situation and can ask questions like I would ask a 1890 01:46:10,280 --> 01:46:12,920 whole bunch of questions before I commented on this on this 1891 01:46:12,920 --> 01:46:18,520 question. OK, so, so Dina, if, if someone 1892 01:46:18,520 --> 01:46:23,840 doesn't require protecting them, if, if you're living, if you're 1893 01:46:23,840 --> 01:46:27,720 no longer, well, first of all, your husband should be the 1894 01:46:27,720 --> 01:46:29,360 shelter for you. You shouldn't be the shelter for 1895 01:46:29,360 --> 01:46:32,000 your husband. You're not even married anymore. 1896 01:46:32,320 --> 01:46:36,320 So there's a lot of things that I have to be able to that I have 1897 01:46:36,320 --> 01:46:39,320 to that I need to be able to understand because I need to 1898 01:46:39,320 --> 01:46:42,760 know if your relationship is even a supporting relationship 1899 01:46:42,760 --> 01:46:44,760 or if it's an enabling relationship. 1900 01:46:44,960 --> 01:46:49,880 I just don't know, you know, and, and, and if it, if it's an, 1901 01:46:49,880 --> 01:46:52,760 if it's an enabling relationship, then it's very 1902 01:46:52,760 --> 01:46:55,680 damaging, right? Like for example, if you're 1903 01:46:55,680 --> 01:46:58,840 enabling him, then your money is supporting addiction or 1904 01:46:58,840 --> 01:47:00,280 irresponsible behavior. Is it? 1905 01:47:00,600 --> 01:47:04,280 If it is, you're enabling him. Maybe the same emergencies 1906 01:47:04,280 --> 01:47:08,440 continue to repeatedly occur without any meaningful change. 1907 01:47:08,600 --> 01:47:12,240 You're probably enabling him. OK, if if he, Here's a big one. 1908 01:47:12,240 --> 01:47:14,920 If he continues to use guilt or threats or some kind of 1909 01:47:14,920 --> 01:47:17,000 emotional crisis to keep you involved. 1910 01:47:17,760 --> 01:47:20,120 Believe it or not, you're enabling him if you respond to 1911 01:47:20,120 --> 01:47:22,080 him. If you're, If you are, here's 1912 01:47:22,080 --> 01:47:24,680 one that you probably most people would not like hearing. 1913 01:47:25,440 --> 01:47:28,760 If you're functioning as his wife or his counselor or 1914 01:47:28,760 --> 01:47:31,920 rescuer, even though the marriage has ended, you are 1915 01:47:31,920 --> 01:47:34,720 absolutely enabling him and it's not healthy. 1916 01:47:35,160 --> 01:47:40,280 So helping him damages your own financial situation. 1917 01:47:40,480 --> 01:47:43,840 You are enabling him. If it damages your emotions, 1918 01:47:44,240 --> 01:47:48,560 you're, you're enabling him. If your assistance that you give 1919 01:47:48,560 --> 01:47:52,160 him allows him to avoid things that he has to face like 1920 01:47:52,160 --> 01:47:54,920 treatment or some sort of employment mechanism or 1921 01:47:54,920 --> 01:47:59,840 accountability, then you're enabling him and it's not good, 1922 01:48:00,000 --> 01:48:02,200 right? And by the way, This is why 1923 01:48:02,200 --> 01:48:05,880 Galatians tells us to bear one another's burdens and then in a 1924 01:48:05,880 --> 01:48:08,800 few verses later says, for every man shall bear his own burden, 1925 01:48:09,200 --> 01:48:10,960 right? Because there's a condition to 1926 01:48:10,960 --> 01:48:15,760 that. So there's so much more to this 1927 01:48:15,760 --> 01:48:18,200 that I just can't answer because I don't know. 1928 01:48:19,440 --> 01:48:22,280 And that's where too, I think probably having like a local 1929 01:48:22,280 --> 01:48:25,760 pastor or someone within her sphere of influence that can, 1930 01:48:25,960 --> 01:48:28,360 you know, pour into her, into the situation is probably like 1931 01:48:28,360 --> 01:48:31,080 the best thing just to have someone locally, you know, be 1932 01:48:31,080 --> 01:48:33,080 there for her through. Amen. 1933 01:48:33,600 --> 01:48:35,600 Amen. And, and you know, you can love 1934 01:48:35,600 --> 01:48:38,640 it without, without being emotionally bound to him. 1935 01:48:39,600 --> 01:48:41,800 And, and even then, I feel weird saying that because I just don't 1936 01:48:41,800 --> 01:48:43,640 know the circumstances. I really don't know what you're 1937 01:48:43,640 --> 01:48:45,280 what. So I would have to know more. 1938 01:48:45,560 --> 01:48:48,560 But I hopefully I've given you a little bit of an outline because 1939 01:48:48,560 --> 01:48:50,480 it is it is deeply consequential here. 1940 01:48:50,840 --> 01:48:53,200 Totally. Our next question is from Stacy. 1941 01:48:53,440 --> 01:48:55,640 How do we pray for those who are Muslim? 1942 01:48:55,680 --> 01:49:02,040 How do we share Jesus with them? I know that's like a 2 hour 1943 01:49:02,040 --> 01:49:05,280 thing in itself. It is, it is because the problem 1944 01:49:05,280 --> 01:49:08,640 with Islam is the problem with Islam is Islam centers around a 1945 01:49:08,640 --> 01:49:14,240 mindset of deception. So, so, so trying to debate with 1946 01:49:14,240 --> 01:49:16,920 a Muslim is going to be very, very difficult. 1947 01:49:17,480 --> 01:49:20,840 Think about it like this. Their own Quran, which by the 1948 01:49:20,840 --> 01:49:26,000 way, the the most reliable of their extant manuscripts exist 1949 01:49:26,760 --> 01:49:31,200 300 years, maybe even more than that, since, you know, after the 1950 01:49:31,200 --> 01:49:34,000 time Muhammad even died. As a matter of fact, the Quran 1951 01:49:34,000 --> 01:49:37,840 itself only mentions the word Muhammad four times, and it's 1952 01:49:37,840 --> 01:49:39,920 not the word Muhammad. It's Muhammad, which is 1953 01:49:39,920 --> 01:49:42,280 completely different, which it actually may be referring to 1954 01:49:42,280 --> 01:49:44,960 Christ. So putting aside the extency of 1955 01:49:44,960 --> 01:49:48,040 the manuscripts, putting aside the unreliability of it all, 1956 01:49:48,040 --> 01:49:50,560 putting aside that Muhammad might not even be a real 1957 01:49:51,400 --> 01:49:54,680 character here, think about the core of what it says. 1958 01:49:54,680 --> 01:49:58,200 If I open up the Quran right now and I read it, there's a section 1959 01:49:58,200 --> 01:50:00,720 in the Quran that says, well, makka, makka allahu allahu haida 1960 01:50:00,720 --> 01:50:03,080 al Makarina. For those of you that don't 1961 01:50:03,080 --> 01:50:04,760 know, my mom and I, dad are both born and raised in Egypt. 1962 01:50:04,760 --> 01:50:07,280 So Arabic is my, is my second language. 1963 01:50:07,720 --> 01:50:11,320 What that says is they deceived, referring to the Jews. 1964 01:50:11,680 --> 01:50:15,000 So Allah deceived because Allah is the chief of deceivers. 1965 01:50:15,920 --> 01:50:21,240 So, so the one thing that you can't do is you can't begin by 1966 01:50:21,240 --> 01:50:26,960 attacking Muhammad or the Quran. It will usually end the 1967 01:50:26,960 --> 01:50:29,840 conversation from the very beginning because they are 1968 01:50:29,840 --> 01:50:33,760 trained to act at that level. That's what they do. 1969 01:50:33,760 --> 01:50:36,320 They're trained to do it. They're trained to to attack 1970 01:50:36,320 --> 01:50:38,800 Christianity. And that's what they're taught 1971 01:50:38,800 --> 01:50:40,280 from the very beginning. OK. 1972 01:50:40,640 --> 01:50:43,280 So you've got to first thing you have to do is you got to love 1973 01:50:43,280 --> 01:50:44,720 them genuinely. If you don't have a genuine love 1974 01:50:44,720 --> 01:50:46,960 for Muslims, you're not going to be good at what you do. 1975 01:50:47,160 --> 01:50:50,960 I have a friend, Jay Smith, who in my opinion might be the most 1976 01:50:50,960 --> 01:50:55,920 prolific debater who takes down Islam at at one of the highest 1977 01:50:55,920 --> 01:51:00,120 levels and his whole heart, he cries for Muslims every single 1978 01:51:00,120 --> 01:51:03,160 day. And by the way, no, the greatest 1979 01:51:03,160 --> 01:51:06,560 scholars of Islam don't know how to treat what he says. 1980 01:51:06,800 --> 01:51:09,880 By the way, the greatest scholars of Islam right now 1981 01:51:10,280 --> 01:51:12,360 don't know what to do with some of the problems they're having 1982 01:51:12,360 --> 01:51:15,040 with the original text. Yasser Qadi, who might be one of 1983 01:51:15,040 --> 01:51:17,600 the greatest Islamic scholars who lives in the United States 1984 01:51:17,600 --> 01:51:20,560 of America, in Texas specifically, basically admitted 1985 01:51:20,560 --> 01:51:24,520 that the Hadith doesn't have any real tool to be able to 1986 01:51:24,520 --> 01:51:28,240 substantiate its authenticity. So it's it's just very 1987 01:51:28,240 --> 01:51:31,240 interesting. So look, you have a Muslim 1988 01:51:31,240 --> 01:51:33,760 neighbor, you have a Co worker or a friend. 1989 01:51:34,000 --> 01:51:36,040 Do not treat them as a debate to be one. 1990 01:51:36,040 --> 01:51:38,120 It will never work. They will never listen to you, 1991 01:51:38,680 --> 01:51:40,800 OK? Share meals with them, build the 1992 01:51:40,800 --> 01:51:45,400 trust, answer questions honestly, and live in a way that 1993 01:51:45,400 --> 01:51:49,440 makes the grace of of God visible, right? 1994 01:51:50,320 --> 01:51:54,720 Pray for them, speak clearly, and remember that only the Holy 1995 01:51:54,720 --> 01:51:56,760 Spirit can open someone hard to believe. 1996 01:51:57,000 --> 01:52:00,600 So, So ask for the Holy Spirit for opportunities to speak to 1997 01:52:00,600 --> 01:52:07,120 them and make yourself well familiar with the Bible, so much 1998 01:52:07,120 --> 01:52:10,080 so that when they bring up the false teaching, you're going to 1999 01:52:10,080 --> 01:52:11,280 be able to deal with it pretty well. 2000 01:52:11,280 --> 01:52:15,520 By the way, my opinion, I think one of the greatest resources to 2001 01:52:15,520 --> 01:52:19,040 learn about Islam and how to deal with it is my friend Jay 2002 01:52:19,040 --> 01:52:21,560 Smith. You can go to, I think it's 2003 01:52:21,560 --> 01:52:26,480 Fander Films. Dot com, yeah. 2004 01:52:26,480 --> 01:52:32,840 PFPFANDER. Yeah, PFANDER. 2005 01:52:33,120 --> 01:52:38,160 Offander vanderfilms.com he is, or let me look it up. 2006 01:52:38,160 --> 01:52:40,520 I'm going to just look it up really quickly because Jay, Jay, 2007 01:52:40,520 --> 01:52:42,520 by the way, is a very close and dear friend. 2008 01:52:42,760 --> 01:52:44,400 Is it a money resource or is it a? 2009 01:52:45,600 --> 01:52:52,040 Oh, it's got hundreds of free videos and, and, and also 2010 01:52:52,280 --> 01:52:54,560 things. And he is, in my opinion, one of 2011 01:52:54,560 --> 01:53:01,080 the number one, he, he is, in my opinion, one of the number one 2012 01:53:01,080 --> 01:53:03,240 authorities on Islam alive right now. 2013 01:53:04,000 --> 01:53:07,520 And he, he is a, a colleague. I'm proud to call him my 2014 01:53:07,520 --> 01:53:09,920 colleague. It's yeah, it's Fander 2015 01:53:09,920 --> 01:53:15,600 center.org. So PFANDERCENTER, 2016 01:53:15,760 --> 01:53:19,720 fandercenter.org. And, and Jay Smith is amazing. 2017 01:53:19,720 --> 01:53:22,000 The other thing you can do if you want to know more about him 2018 01:53:22,000 --> 01:53:25,800 is type in Jay Smith James Cadise, go to Google, type in J 2019 01:53:25,800 --> 01:53:27,920 Smith James Cadiz. You'll see us talking about 2020 01:53:27,920 --> 01:53:30,600 Islam together. And I've done many projects with 2021 01:53:30,600 --> 01:53:35,240 him and he is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant 2022 01:53:35,240 --> 01:53:39,880 scholars alive right now that takes down Islam in ways that 2023 01:53:39,880 --> 01:53:42,720 most people could never even begin to imagine. 2024 01:53:42,960 --> 01:53:47,240 And he can teach you how to do it literally in in a short 2025 01:53:47,240 --> 01:53:49,400 period of time. He's a brilliant, brilliant 2026 01:53:49,400 --> 01:53:51,320 communicator and I would absolutely recommend it. 2027 01:53:51,720 --> 01:53:54,760 And all this stuff that I've learned over a lifetime, this 2028 01:53:54,760 --> 01:53:57,600 guy could teach you in in hours. That's awesome. 2029 01:53:58,040 --> 01:54:00,520 That's really, really helpful. Well, Kate, we'll have to put 2030 01:54:01,880 --> 01:54:04,200 his resource under our resources tab too. 2031 01:54:04,960 --> 01:54:07,360 OK, our final question and then we're going to wrap and we'll 2032 01:54:07,360 --> 01:54:10,040 see you guys in August is from Nancy. 2033 01:54:10,200 --> 01:54:13,480 I've heard that the devil hears when we speak words aloud, but I 2034 01:54:13,760 --> 01:54:16,320 but can't know our thoughts like God does. 2035 01:54:16,720 --> 01:54:20,040 I've experienced many times when I speak something out loud and 2036 01:54:20,040 --> 01:54:22,680 it feels like the enemy has a way to sabotage. 2037 01:54:22,960 --> 01:54:26,240 I found myself praying only silently and more hesitant to 2038 01:54:26,240 --> 01:54:29,360 pray aloud. Is there any validity to this? 2039 01:54:29,480 --> 01:54:32,560 I know we are to pray and praise, but why do I feel so 2040 01:54:32,560 --> 01:54:35,720 apprehensive now to voice my prayers aloud? 2041 01:54:37,280 --> 01:54:41,120 And I, I remember when I went through this and, and I still do 2042 01:54:41,120 --> 01:54:43,080 every now and again, like, man, I better shut my mouth. 2043 01:54:43,080 --> 01:54:47,080 I don't want the enemy to hear my words because the devil is 2044 01:54:47,080 --> 01:54:50,480 that is that sophisticated. But the answer also lies in the 2045 01:54:50,480 --> 01:54:56,080 fact that he is sophisticated and that he knows and he's very 2046 01:54:56,080 --> 01:54:59,400 good at studying us. So I wouldn't worry because I 2047 01:54:59,400 --> 01:55:02,600 think he's going to get whatever information that he needs by the 2048 01:55:02,600 --> 01:55:05,040 ability to be able to study us in a in a way. 2049 01:55:05,320 --> 01:55:08,200 Now, I will tell you this. The Bible never teaches us that 2050 01:55:08,200 --> 01:55:11,400 Satan can read our minds. He can't, OK, only God alone 2051 01:55:11,400 --> 01:55:13,880 possesses that knowledge. But he's sophisticated enough 2052 01:55:13,880 --> 01:55:19,760 where he can actually see things and, and, and, and be able to be 2053 01:55:19,760 --> 01:55:23,880 able to make guesses, right? So Satan and, and, and demons, 2054 01:55:23,880 --> 01:55:27,080 of course his demons, they can hear spoken words, they can 2055 01:55:27,080 --> 01:55:31,040 observe behavior, they can study patterns, they can, they can 2056 01:55:31,040 --> 01:55:33,560 make very intelligent conclusions like a con artist 2057 01:55:33,560 --> 01:55:37,080 would and, and maybe reading you or an interrogator would and 2058 01:55:37,080 --> 01:55:40,040 being able to have a question. So they've watched humanity for 2059 01:55:40,040 --> 01:55:41,880 a very long time. They've watched humanity for 2060 01:55:41,880 --> 01:55:44,800 6000 years, OK, but keep this in mind. 2061 01:55:44,800 --> 01:55:47,080 They're created beings and they are limited, OK? 2062 01:55:47,080 --> 01:55:49,800 They're not omniscient, they're not omnipresent, and they're not 2063 01:55:49,800 --> 01:55:51,280 even close to being equal with God. 2064 01:55:51,280 --> 01:55:54,800 So silent prayer is very biblical. 2065 01:55:54,960 --> 01:55:58,280 Hannah did that, by the way, in First Samuel, chapter 1. 2066 01:55:58,440 --> 01:56:01,160 I love that story, by the way. It's the first story that I ever 2067 01:56:01,160 --> 01:56:05,440 read to my oldest daughter, the very first night that we brought 2068 01:56:05,440 --> 01:56:10,240 her home and, and, and told her that she's an answer to our 2069 01:56:10,240 --> 01:56:12,400 prayer. And, and just, it's a beautiful, 2070 01:56:12,400 --> 01:56:15,440 beautiful story, but God hurt her perfectly in her silence, 2071 01:56:15,880 --> 01:56:20,720 You know, but the Bible does contain many examples of us 2072 01:56:20,720 --> 01:56:23,160 praying and praising out loud and, and why we should. 2073 01:56:23,520 --> 01:56:27,720 I don't think that there's any biblical warning that speaking a 2074 01:56:27,720 --> 01:56:31,200 prayer out loud would give Satan any kind of permission or power 2075 01:56:31,400 --> 01:56:35,360 or some kind of special legal opportunity to sabotage it. 2076 01:56:35,360 --> 01:56:38,720 So don't let the enemy own real estate in your mind, OK. 2077 01:56:39,360 --> 01:56:43,560 We also do know that the enemy cannot act independently of 2078 01:56:43,560 --> 01:56:46,080 God's sovereign authority. He has to go to the Lord. 2079 01:56:46,080 --> 01:56:48,960 We know that based on what we read in the book of Job. 2080 01:56:49,360 --> 01:56:54,720 So your apprehension, I think probably developed because your 2081 01:56:54,720 --> 01:56:58,400 mind has associated speaking aloud with something bad 2082 01:56:58,600 --> 01:57:00,560 happening afterwards. You know, maybe you say 2083 01:57:00,560 --> 01:57:01,880 something and then something happens. 2084 01:57:02,240 --> 01:57:06,800 And I think that fear then begins as a result of 2085 01:57:06,800 --> 01:57:10,680 interpreting every difficulty as some kind of a confirmation of a 2086 01:57:10,680 --> 01:57:13,080 bias that you're beginning to perceive in this in the 2087 01:57:13,080 --> 01:57:15,360 situation. And I'm not like some Doctor 2088 01:57:15,360 --> 01:57:18,400 Who's trying to analyze this. I'm just telling you based on my 2089 01:57:18,400 --> 01:57:22,000 experience, OK? So whether that fear originated 2090 01:57:22,000 --> 01:57:24,600 through some kind of spiritual intimidation or some kind of 2091 01:57:24,600 --> 01:57:27,080 anxiety that you felt based on something that happened to you 2092 01:57:27,480 --> 01:57:30,840 or like a disappointment that you experience as a result of an 2093 01:57:30,840 --> 01:57:34,360 attack that you got, the answer is still the same. 2094 01:57:34,560 --> 01:57:37,120 You have to bring it under the authority of what the Bible 2095 01:57:37,120 --> 01:57:39,680 teaches you. And, and this is what the Bible 2096 01:57:39,680 --> 01:57:42,560 tells you about Satan. The Bible says submit. 2097 01:57:42,560 --> 01:57:44,280 This is James chapter 4, by the way. 2098 01:57:44,560 --> 01:57:47,360 Submit yourselves therefore to God. 2099 01:57:47,400 --> 01:57:50,160 That's the first command that's given by James. 2100 01:57:50,320 --> 01:57:53,000 He says resist the devil and he will flee from you. 2101 01:57:53,400 --> 01:57:56,680 So you can pray silently, you know, whatever you choose, 2102 01:57:56,720 --> 01:57:59,600 nothing wrong with that, but don't pray silently because 2103 01:57:59,600 --> 01:58:03,640 you're afraid that Satan will overhear and defeat God's 2104 01:58:03,640 --> 01:58:05,600 purposes in your life. It's just not, it's just not 2105 01:58:05,600 --> 01:58:08,280 biblical, right? Pray aloud when it helps you, 2106 01:58:08,360 --> 01:58:10,120 you to concentrate. That's a great time to be 2107 01:58:10,120 --> 01:58:13,160 praying aloud, right? Sometimes I have to do that. 2108 01:58:13,160 --> 01:58:16,920 Otherwise I'll just fall asleep in certain contexts and, and, 2109 01:58:16,960 --> 01:58:18,800 and praise God openly. You should do that. 2110 01:58:18,800 --> 01:58:21,280 You should read scripture aloud. That's a really awesome thing to 2111 01:58:21,280 --> 01:58:22,360 do. The enemy doesn't like it. 2112 01:58:23,600 --> 01:58:26,680 And keep this in mind. If you, if you don't do those 2113 01:58:26,680 --> 01:58:28,840 things, you're allowing the enemy to determine the volume of 2114 01:58:28,840 --> 01:58:30,240 the very worship that you give to God. 2115 01:58:30,240 --> 01:58:33,000 Don't you don't give him the control that he wants to have. 2116 01:58:34,280 --> 01:58:38,280 If this fear continues to control your prayer life or 2117 01:58:38,280 --> 01:58:43,480 expands into some level of what I would call persistent anxiety, 2118 01:58:45,720 --> 01:58:48,920 talk to somebody about it, honestly, and have them be a 2119 01:58:48,920 --> 01:58:52,160 partner with you to pray because it could become something that 2120 01:58:52,160 --> 01:58:55,600 could affect you, right? Look, you don't need to live 2121 01:58:55,600 --> 01:58:58,880 under that burden because Satan is indeed limited. 2122 01:58:58,880 --> 01:59:01,840 He is OK. And also remember this, Christ 2123 01:59:01,840 --> 01:59:04,280 is the he's the one that made us more than conquerors. 2124 01:59:04,280 --> 01:59:08,840 He's victorious. So no spoken prayer will make 2125 01:59:08,840 --> 01:59:11,240 God less capable of protecting you or guiding you. 2126 01:59:11,240 --> 01:59:13,960 And no spoken prayer is going to allow the enemy to do anything 2127 01:59:13,960 --> 01:59:17,480 that God doesn't want happening for his glory and for your 2128 01:59:17,480 --> 01:59:19,160 benefit. That's that's what I would say. 2129 01:59:19,560 --> 01:59:24,120 Amen. OK, another month under the 2130 01:59:24,120 --> 01:59:26,480 belt. We're grateful. 2131 01:59:26,520 --> 01:59:32,680 Yeah, yeah. So grateful for you and again 2132 01:59:32,680 --> 01:59:34,720 for your family, for your prayers. 2133 01:59:34,960 --> 01:59:39,680 And we, we're thankful for all of you guys as well who continue 2134 01:59:39,680 --> 01:59:42,280 to just support us and send in questions. 2135 01:59:42,280 --> 01:59:48,000 And it really is an honor to be able to be in the word with all 2136 01:59:48,000 --> 01:59:50,600 of you daily. There is nothing more powerful 2137 01:59:50,600 --> 01:59:54,640 than reading God's word every single day, Especially just like 2138 01:59:54,640 --> 01:59:58,600 how pastor could he said out loud, It's just unbelievably 2139 01:59:58,840 --> 02:00:01,680 soul filling. But also it's, it's your sword. 2140 02:00:01,920 --> 02:00:05,400 And we are in the middle of one of the most intense spiritual 2141 02:00:05,400 --> 02:00:09,240 battles, but we're on the winning side of that. 2142 02:00:09,600 --> 02:00:13,680 So God is good. Yeah, Amen. 2143 02:00:13,680 --> 02:00:17,800 And, and we've watched, we have watched the enemy again and 2144 02:00:17,800 --> 02:00:22,120 again and again and again attempt to rob the people of 2145 02:00:22,120 --> 02:00:24,720 God. We've watched the enemy attempt 2146 02:00:24,720 --> 02:00:28,440 to destroy the minds and the hearts of those who are seeking 2147 02:00:28,440 --> 02:00:31,680 God. And the beautiful aspect that 2148 02:00:31,680 --> 02:00:35,320 comes with all of this is that God will not allow it to happen. 2149 02:00:35,960 --> 02:00:42,520 God will always prevail. The truth is, is literally in 2150 02:00:42,520 --> 02:00:45,720 front of us and it's just a matter of us trusting in the 2151 02:00:45,720 --> 02:00:49,560 Lord that he is sovereign in the way that he brings these things 2152 02:00:49,560 --> 02:00:51,240 about. And we, we saw an example of 2153 02:00:51,240 --> 02:00:54,000 this last week. You know, that God is God is 2154 02:00:54,000 --> 02:00:59,840 faithful and his justice is perfect and it's without flaw. 2155 02:01:00,320 --> 02:01:04,960 And I think that the liars will lie, the exaggerators will 2156 02:01:04,960 --> 02:01:10,080 exaggerate, the dog and pony shows will continue on. 2157 02:01:10,320 --> 02:01:14,560 But God sees through all of that, and God prevails over all. 2158 02:01:14,560 --> 02:01:17,440 And God will continue to rule and reign over all. 2159 02:01:18,000 --> 02:01:20,960 And we're going to trust in him and we're going to watch him do 2160 02:01:21,400 --> 02:01:23,920 great things. And, you know, I was thinking 2161 02:01:23,920 --> 02:01:26,960 about this the other day, Erica. I, I thought it was such a, such 2162 02:01:26,960 --> 02:01:28,800 an encouraging thing because I was thinking about my own mom 2163 02:01:28,800 --> 02:01:31,920 and my dad, who, you know, my dad went to go be with the Lord 2164 02:01:31,920 --> 02:01:35,040 a few years back and my mom a long time ago. 2165 02:01:35,880 --> 02:01:39,840 And, and I'm just thinking, you know, I have these moments in my 2166 02:01:39,840 --> 02:01:42,560 life where I, where, where I say, man, I wish my mom could 2167 02:01:42,560 --> 02:01:44,360 see this or I wish my dad could see this. 2168 02:01:45,040 --> 02:01:49,120 And I just realized they, they don't wish that. 2169 02:01:49,120 --> 02:01:54,600 I mean, they're in a place where they're seeing the greatest of 2170 02:01:54,600 --> 02:01:57,640 the greatest. And I think that with our 2171 02:01:57,640 --> 02:02:01,240 limited awareness of what that looks like and what that feels 2172 02:02:01,240 --> 02:02:03,680 like, we feel bad for some reason. 2173 02:02:03,920 --> 02:02:07,200 But God is rewarding them for the labor. 2174 02:02:07,400 --> 02:02:09,760 God is rewarding them for their faith and trust that they put in 2175 02:02:09,760 --> 02:02:11,600 him. And, and we can rejoice. 2176 02:02:11,600 --> 02:02:16,040 And, and as much as I, as I tell myself, man, I wish Charlie 2177 02:02:16,040 --> 02:02:21,440 could see just how well the message and the legacy continues 2178 02:02:21,440 --> 02:02:25,680 to go and, and just how awesome of a job you're doing. 2179 02:02:26,200 --> 02:02:28,360 It's like Charlie's with the Lord. 2180 02:02:28,360 --> 02:02:31,880 He's, he's not, he's not looking at like he's, he's just, he's 2181 02:02:31,880 --> 02:02:34,440 experiencing the reward and he's like, come on, when are you 2182 02:02:34,440 --> 02:02:40,640 coming up here? You know, it's, it's, it's God's 2183 02:02:40,640 --> 02:02:43,120 faithfulness, It's his goodness and he knows what he's doing. 2184 02:02:43,120 --> 02:02:47,080 And, and, and we can find rest and comfort that to live is 2185 02:02:47,080 --> 02:02:50,520 Christ and to die is gain. And that's, that's what we're 2186 02:02:50,520 --> 02:02:52,960 seeing right now. You know, we have everything to 2187 02:02:52,960 --> 02:02:55,640 live for and we have everything to die for. 2188 02:02:56,720 --> 02:03:01,520 It's, it's just awesome. God is faithful and, and we can 2189 02:03:01,520 --> 02:03:02,920 trust in him for all of these things. 2190 02:03:02,920 --> 02:03:03,400 Yeah. Yeah. 2191 02:03:04,520 --> 02:03:07,640 I'll have you close us out in prayer and then we will see all 2192 02:03:07,640 --> 02:03:13,120 of you in a month from now in August for our live Q&A then. 2193 02:03:14,840 --> 02:03:16,600 Father Heaven, we thank you, Lord, for your goodness and your 2194 02:03:16,600 --> 02:03:18,560 faithfulness to us. Lord, we thank you for the fact 2195 02:03:18,560 --> 02:03:21,400 that you are good, that you are the God of heaven, and that You 2196 02:03:21,400 --> 02:03:23,080 love us with an everlasting love. 2197 02:03:23,960 --> 02:03:27,400 We thank you, Lord, for the fact that you continue to answer our 2198 02:03:27,400 --> 02:03:29,760 prayers. We thank you for the fact, Lord, 2199 02:03:29,760 --> 02:03:33,560 that we can rest in you and rely upon the fact that you know 2200 02:03:33,560 --> 02:03:37,960 better than we do and that, Lord, we are in your hands and 2201 02:03:37,960 --> 02:03:40,120 those that are not with us are even in your hands. 2202 02:03:40,120 --> 02:03:43,040 We thank you for that Lord, we just pray for the filling of 2203 02:03:43,040 --> 02:03:44,840 your spirit. Lord, we pray for your comfort, 2204 02:03:44,840 --> 02:03:47,760 your peace, your knowledge. Give us a hunger for your word 2205 02:03:47,760 --> 02:03:50,680 like we've never had before and keep us always looking to you. 2206 02:03:50,680 --> 02:03:51,760 So Lord, we love you and thank you. 2207 02:03:51,760 --> 02:03:53,520 We look to you and we ask these things. 2208 02:03:53,520 --> 02:03:55,640 In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 2209 02:03:56,000 --> 02:03:57,600 Amen. God bless you. 2210 02:03:57,960 --> 02:04:02,040 Thank you for everything, Pastor Cadiz, and we will see you guys 2211 02:04:02,040 --> 02:04:03,520 in August. Take care. 2212 02:04:04,240 --> 02:04:36,400 Love you guys. Yeah.